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Global M&A market dropped by 15%, the lowest in a decade!

<ul><li>Deal volumes jumped by 21% to 191 while the values declined by 37% to USD 9.4 billion in <keyword id="20061151" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="April" source="keywords">April</keyword> compared to March 2024</li><li>Adani Group's three major domestic consolidations of around USD 2 billion in value marked 38% of the total deal values in April 2024.</li><li>Experts predict sustained momentum and growth in deal activities, supported by strong fundamentals and a conducive investment climate.</li></ul> In the dynamic landscape of Indian business transactions, the manufacturing sector has emerged as a beacon of value, while consumer retail reigns supreme in volume. April 2024 marked significant shifts in deal-making compared to the month before with a notable absence of billion-dollar deals. Overall deal volumes jumped by 21% to 191 while the values declined by 37% to USD 9.4 billion in April compared to March 2024, as per the latest <keyword id="20034170" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Grant-Thornton-Bharat" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Grant Thornton Bharat" meta.hostid="83" meta.entityid="Grant Thornton Bharat">Grant Thornton Bharat</keyword> Dealtracker report. The past month has witnessed a flurry of activity, with notable shifts and surges across various industries, offering a compelling glimpse into the evolving economic terrain. "Deal volumes increased in April 2024 marking the highest monthly volumes since May 2022. There were no billion-dollar deal but witnessed 12 high value (&gt; USD 100 million) deals amounting to USD 3.8 billion," said Shanthi Vijetha, Partner at Grant Thornton. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Adani Group leads M&amp;A activity" comment="subhead" text="Adani Group leads M&amp;A activity">Adani Group leads M&amp;A activity</cmsannotation> At the forefront of deal values stands the manufacturing sector, boasting an impressive tally of nine transactions amounting to a staggering USD 1,919 million. This surge is underpinned by two monumental deals, notably the Adani Group's strategic stake increase in Ambuja Cement and ACC, which was the most significant M&amp;A activity of the month. Adani Group secured a significant 7.5% stake in Ambuja Cements, injecting a substantial USD 1.8 billion into enhancing the manufacturing capacity of cement makers, signaling a bold step towards industry expansion and innovation. Overall, the group's three major domestic consolidations of around USD 2 billion in value marked 38% of the total deal values in April 2024. Despite this, the <keyword id="21645622" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="merger-and-acquisitions" source="keywords">merger and acquisitions</keyword> transactions saw the highest decline in value, dropping by 75 percent to USD 2.5 billion from USD 10.2 billion in March. This was mainly because of the absence of large-scale mergers like those seen in March. However, M&amp;A deal-making remained robust in April with significant domestic consolidations. "This month's activity, characterized by deal volumes spanning across breadth of sectors and by large deals by select players, illustrates a market that is both diverse and robust," observed Shanthi. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Private Equity landscape remains vibrant" comment="subhead" text="Private Equity landscape remains vibrant"><keyword id="19895041" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="private-equity" source="keywords">Private Equity</keyword> landscape remains vibrant</cmsannotation> The private equity transactions also experienced a slight decrease in value, reaching USD 2.666 billion, according to the report by Grant Thornton Bharat. However, with a total of 130 deals, the overall market landscape remains vibrant. The numbers indicate a clear shift towards enhanced number of investments while the size of the deals remains smaller compared to previous months. "The stable value of investments, despite the higher number of transactions, indicates a strategic adjustment towards spreading investments across various sectors, aiming to capitalize on emerging opportunities while mitigating large-scale risks," says the report. "The deal outlook for 2024 continues to remain positive as India stands at the cusp of a new era of growth and investment supported by a growing consumer market, a flourishing tech start-up ecosystem, and supportive government policies," concludes Shanthi Vijetha. Factors that could influence domestic markets in the near future include the outcome of Lok Sabha elections, global and domestic trends in interest rates driven by inflation, and supply chain dynamics. However, experts predict sustained momentum and growth in deal activities, supported by strong fundamentals and a conducive investment climate.

Volumes up, values down: April 2024 marks notable shifts in India's deal-making landscape

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Trump announced Rep. Matt Gaetz as his pick for attorney general.</li><li>Gaetz has criticized Big Tech for censoring conservatives and supports antitrust enforcement.</li></ul>President-elect Donald Trump <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-nominates-matt-gaetz-attorney-general-2024-11">named Rep. Matt Gaetz</a> as his pick for attorney general, an appointment which, if approved by the Senate, would give the Florida Republican sweeping legal power and the opportunity to act on his longstanding complaints against Big Tech.Gaetz has <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/matt-gaetz-says-american-obligation-take-up-arms-big-tech-2021-5">frequently railed against Big Tech</a>, accusing Silicon Valley firms of censoring conservatives, and in recent years has emerged as a fierce advocate for antitrust enforcement, particularly against companies like Amazon, Meta, and Alphabet."The internet's hall monitors out in Silicon Valley, they think they can suppress us, discourage us. Maybe if you're just a little less patriotic. Maybe if you just conform to their way of thinking a little more, then you'll be allowed to participate in the digital world," Gaetz said during a 2021 appearance shortly after <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-trump-bans-from-twitter-facebook-dont-violate-first-amendment-2021-1">Trump had been banned from social</a> <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-trump-bans-from-twitter-facebook-dont-violate-first-amendment-2021-1">media platforms</a> following the January 6 insurrection."Well, you know what? Silicon Valley can't cancel this movement, or this rally, or this congressman," he told the audience. "We have a Second Amendment in this country, and I think we have an obligation to use it."Still, it's unclear how much his appointment to attorney general, if approved by the Senate, would impact Silicon Valley.A representative for the congressman did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.Both the Justice Department and the FTC are responsible for enforcing antitrust laws in the US. Current <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ftc-chair-lina-khan-60-minutes-americans-privacy-big-tech-2024-9">Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan</a>, who Trump may end up replacing, has been aggressive at going after Big Tech companies. Khan has worked to stifle billions of dollars worth of deals over anti-competitive concerns, and the FTC has brought lawsuits against Nvidia, Meta, and Microsoft, among others.That work puts her somewhat in alignment with Gaetz and Vice President-elect JD Vance, who has praised her work. Gaetz told <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/lina-khan-ftc-antitrust-khanservatives-a6852a8f">The Wall Street Journal</a> in March that he hopes "whoever is the next FTC chair would continue many of the cases that Chair Khan has brought against predatory businesses."So although <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/aoc-brawl-harris-lina-khan-ftc-mark-cuban-2024-10">Khan could be departing</a>, it's possible the federal government's antitrust policy towards major tech companies does not drastically change, according to Mark A. Kasten, an attorney at Buchanan Ingersoll and Rooney focusing on white collar criminal defense, compliance, and investigations.It could also depend on who Trump picks to chair the FTC. Though he is expected to fire Khan, it's unclear who he would tap to lead the agency instead."Ultimately, we still expect to see a meaningful uptick in M&amp;A activity," Isaac Boltansky, BTIG's director of policy research, told <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.barrons.com/articles/matt-gaetz-trump-pick-attorney-general-226abe2a">Barron's</a> after Gaetz was nominated, referring to mergers an acquisitions."But the hurdles for Big Tech could remain elevated," he added.Kasten, who has defended clients who were under investigation by the Justice Department, also noted that Gaetz voted against the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktok-ban-app-american-us-not-worried-2024-9">TikTok ban passed in April</a>. The bill, aimed at beefing up national security against China, requires the app's Chinese owner, ByteDance, to sell its US assets by January or be banned from app stores."While that law passed, and requires the platform to be sold to a non-Chinese company in January, it is easy to see a world in which an Attorney General Gaetz doesn't enforce it," Kasten told BI in an email.Following the vote, Gaetz said he believed banning TikTok was "the right idea" but that he took issue with the "overly broad" and "rushed" legislation."This is no way to run a railroad (or the internet)," Gaetz posted on X.Several of the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-coporate-monopolies-antitrust-lawsuits-live-nation-amazon-google-meta-2024-5">biggest tech companies</a>, including Apple, Google, Meta, and Amazon, are already contending with antitrust cases filed over the last several years.George Hay, an antitrust expert and law professor at Cornell University, previously told BI that incoming presidents <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-presidency-affect-big-tech-2024-11">generally don't alter current cases.</a>"It's very rare that, at the presidential level, there's any attempt to influence the course of cases which have already been filed. Those have a life of their own," Hay said. "They depend on the judge, the courts, the lawyers who carry on a case. It's extraordinarily unusual for the administration to become at all active."

Matt Gaetz has a history of going after Big Tech. As Trump's attorney general he'd be tasked with enforcing antitrust laws.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>While many tech VCs are optimistic about Trump's second term, some healthcare investors feel stuck.</li><li>They're torn between the promise of long-awaited exits and potential threats to healthcare access.</li></ul>Some healthcare-focused VCs are torn about what Donald Trump's presidential win could mean for their portfolios.Six healthcare investors expressed mixed feelings about Trump's win — largely rooted in a tension they feel between the potential for big deals to come back and policies that fear could restrict healthcare access to many patients.Trump could make sweeping changes to healthcare policy in his return to the presidency. He's said he'll let Robert F. Kennedy Jr. "go wild" on health initiatives in the new administration, which could see the former presidential candidate making good on his desires to <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/RobertKennedyJr/status/1852812012478398923">ban fluoride from public water systems</a>, "<a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/RobertKennedyJr/status/1852872924170010840">get toxins out of our food</a>," and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2024/11/06/heres-what-an-rfk-jr-health-role-in-a-trump-administration-could-look-like-vaccine-skepticism-fluoride-ban/">inject vaccine skepticism into federal decisionmaking</a>, among other initiatives.While Trump is unlikely to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/31/politics/aca-trump-repeal-affordable-care-act/index.html">try again</a> to repeal the Affordable Care Act, he may seek to boost Medicare Advantage plans, cut Medicaid spending, and <a target="_blank" href="https://spectrumnews1.com/wi/madison/news/2024/11/07/trump-rfk-fda-cdc-vaccines-fluoride">reorganize federal agencies,</a> from the Food and Drug Administration to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to an interview Kennedy Jr. gave from Trump's Florida estate shortly after the election.After a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/more-healthcare-ipos-coming-what-startups-should-know-barclays-banker-2024-10">three-year IPO desert</a> for digital health startups, healthcare investors are desperate for the exit opportunities that a second Trump presidency could usher in. But some of Trump's proposed health policy moves are making investors nervous about their potential impacts on startups building in care areas like women's health and Medicaid, as well as on doctors and patients.Compared to Trump's first term, "I think you're going to see a more systemic overhaul of the infrastructure that administers our healthcare system, and that could happen relatively quickly," said Michael Greeley, cofounder and managing partner of Flare Capital Partners. "It's the unknown of those moves that makes it really hard to make a long-term investment decision."<div type="image" title="RFK Jr. speaks at a Trump rally as Trump watches." height="683" width="1024" msid="115114971" hostid="261" sizebytes="60192"></div><h2 id="cadda1d2-41e5-4dcc-8fbd-97541af9ac1a">Healthcare exits on the horizon</h2>In the three years since 2021's healthcare funding boom — during which <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://rockhealth.com/insights/2021-year-end-digital-health-funding-seismic-shifts-beneath-the-surface/#:~:text=And%20while%20some%20of%20the,peak%20of%20eight%20in%202020.">21</a> healthcare startups went public — <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/exclusive-omada-health-confidentially-filed-s1-ipo-public-2024-10">only four</a> digital health startups have gone public in total, with mixed success.A number of healthtech startups have been waiting on the sidelines for their chance to IPO — and Trump's election should boost their odds, healthcare investors told BI.The lower corporate taxes and deregulation a second Trump term could promise are already amplifying public market optimism. A number of tech and finance giants, from Tesla to JP Morgan Chase, saw their stocks soar Wednesday morning. By midday Friday, the S&amp;P 500 index had risen 3.6% from Tuesday's close.Some startups, including physical therapy startup <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hinge-health-s-1-morgan-stanley-ipo-2024-9">Hinge Health </a>and diabetes startup <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/exclusive-omada-health-confidentially-filed-s1-ipo-public-2024-10">Omada Health, have already signaled their intentions to IPO when the digital health markets reopen.</a>Several other late-stage startups are moving towards the exits, too. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mavens-cfo-out-as-womens-health-startup-gets-fresh-funding-2024-10">Maven replaced its chief financial officer</a> in October with an executive with public market experience, BI reported. Sword Health has said it's planning to IPO <a target="_blank" href="https://www.axios.com/pro/health-tech-deals/2024/06/04/sword-healths-road-to-ipo">as soon as the second half of 2025</a>.<div type="image" title="Sean Duffy Omada" height="1880" width="2507" msid="115114964" hostid="261" sizebytes="278880"></div>The healthcare M&amp;A market looks ripe for more activity. Big deals could be on the horizon, including the proposed mega-merger of health insurance rivals Cigna and Humana. Bloomberg reported in October that the insurers had <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-10-18/cigna-resumes-merger-discussions-with-humana-after-talks-ended-last-year">resumed talks of combining</a> after previously shelving the deal last December.The Cigna-Humana merger was expected to face significant antitrust scrutiny from the Federal Trade Commission, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/openness-in-ai-is-necessary-ftc-lina-khan-2024-7">led by Lina Khan</a> since 2021. She could be removed as the FTC's head early in Trump's second term — and with relaxed M&amp;A regulations, "anything is possible," said What If Ventures founder Stephen Hays.Investors said they also expect to see <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/big-deals-coming-healthcare-startups-take-privates-private-equity-2024">increased private equity involvement in healthcare</a> through more investments and acquisitions. Healthcare VC has been calling for consolidation in overcrowded areas of healthcare <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/13-mental-health-startups-ipo-acquisition-merge-buyout-2024-5">like behavioral health</a> for years. Additional interest rate cuts could help facilitate PE-backed mergers, or even rollups of multiple solutions, in the many fragmented areas of digital health and healthcare services, said a Boston-based healthcare investor.<div type="image" title="Cigna insurance" height="2672" width="3563" msid="115114973" hostid="261" sizebytes="1378900"></div><h2 id="8fd35f3b-b1b9-4ac8-ab08-0143afe9541f">Reverberations in women's health and Medicaid</h2>While healthcare investors remain optimistic about what a second Trump term could mean for late-stage startups, VCs said his win could have consequences for key areas of the industry.Reproductive rights remained a top concern throughout the election cycle. Founders of women's health companies and their investors previously expressed concerns to Business Insider about <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/womens-health-startups-risk-trump-wins-election-2024-10">what a second Trump term could mean for their businesses</a>.While Trump has said he wouldn't sign off on a national abortion ban, experts have <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/11/07/how-trumps-victory-could-change-abortion-rights-in-america.html">raised worries</a> that the president-elect could impose more restrictions on birth control access and abortion pills delivered by mail. Demand for abortion pills, emergency contraception, and related treatments <a target="_blank" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/07/abortion-pills-hormones-trump">exploded on Wednesday</a> as patients rushed to stockpile the drugs in fear of potential restrictions.In the wake of the election, women's health investors are dismayed but hopeful that the sector will largely remain untouched by federal policy changes and that VCs will be able to use their capital to push care forward even in the face of policy threats."In our conversations with others, there is a shared resoluteness to continue to pledge investment and develop innovation in historically underfunded categories (e.g. contraception &amp; abortion access, menstruation &amp; hormonal health, maternal health &amp; fertility, menopause &amp; aging)," said Carli Sapir, the founding partner of Amboy Street Ventures, in an email to Business Insider. "Every dollar and ounce of effort toward these areas now speaks volumes for future impact."<div type="image" title="an abortion rights protest sign reading &quot;stars, stripes and reproductive rights&quot;" height="683" width="911" msid="115114963" hostid="261" sizebytes="45906"></div>Medicaid could also be targeted in Trump's second term. Experts think Trump could <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/millions-risk-losing-health-insurance-trumps-victory-rcna179146">cut Medicaid funding</a> and enable states to refuse to expand their Medicaid coverage. Those changes could impact dozens of <a target="_blank" href="https://rockhealth.com/insights/unwinding-the-opportunity-medicaids-digital-health-moment/">startups innovating in Medicaid</a>, as well as the millions of patients covered under Medicaid plans, said Jordan Nof, a cofounder and managing partner at Tusk Venture Partners.And if the House of Representatives goes red along with the Senate, experts expect the subsidies that help people pay for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/millions-risk-losing-health-insurance-trumps-victory-rcna179146">to disappear after they expire at the end of 2025</a>. Without those subsidies, tens of millions of people will see their premiums significantly increase, potentially making coverage prohibitively expensive for many.If fewer patients can afford to be insured, the healthcare system is certain to see <a target="_blank" href="https://www.kff.org/uninsured/issue-brief/key-facts-about-the-uninsured-population/#:~:text=Because%20people%20without%20health%20coverage,declines%20in%20their%20overall%20health.">rising spend</a> associated with increased hospitalizations from otherwise avoidable health problems — a consequence with far-reaching implications across healthcare and the companies building in the sector.<h2 id="f1af4c00-342b-4f1b-b392-ccfc3d9c72fa">A boon for healthcare AI and Medicare Advantage</h2>Trump's victory could have a positive impact on several big areas of healthcare investment.For one, Trump is expected to restrict the government's involvement in AI regulation. That means AI companies, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/22-most-promising-healthcare-ai-startups-2024-8">including healthcare AI companies, will keep soaring</a> with fewer guardrails.Without federal AI safety efforts, the healthcare industry will likely move to self-regulate new technologies, especially in more contentious areas like clinical decision support, Flare Capital Partners' Greeley said. Some of those efforts are already underway, including by groups like the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/future-pulse/2024/10/18/ai-self-regulation-comes-into-view-00184268">Coalition for Health AI</a>, which includes top academic medical centers like Mayo Clinic and Johns Hopkins Speaker alongside tech companies like Microsoft.Still, "there'll be temptations around the margins to more rapidly deploy technologies that aren't yet determined to be safe," Greeley said.<div type="image" title="Dr. Shiv Rao, CEO of Abridge" height="2268" width="3024" msid="115114962" hostid="261" sizebytes="233874"></div>Medicare Advantage plans are also expected to be boosted by a returning Trump administration that's likely to move to further incentivize commercial health insurance. That could be good for the few <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/alignment-healthcare-devoted-health-startups-medicare-advantage-membership-market-2024-2">young insurers clamoring for market share in Medicare Advantage</a>, like Devoted Health and Alignment Healthcare, and the many startups working to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/exclusive-ai-cohere-health-raises-50-million-series-b-extension-2024-1">improve payment processes</a> between insurers and providers. (An increased share of Medicare Advantage plans in the Medicare market might not be good for patients, however, since Medicare Advantage plans <a target="_blank" href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama-health-forum/fullarticle/2815743">deny claims more frequently</a> than traditional Medicare.)And while Robert F. Kennedy Jr's potential appointment to a key health role in the Trump administration <a target="_blank" href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/health-officials-concerned-about-rfk-jr-s-influence-in-trump-administration">worries some healthcare experts</a>, his focus on "food as medicine" could yield some interesting federal projects and perhaps add momentum to the <a target="_blank" href="https://rockhealth.com/insights/an-apple-a-day-but-keep-the-doctor-in-play-a-primer-on-food-as-medicine-trends-solutions-and-business-models/">nutrition startups gaining traction</a>, said Chrissy Farr, a managing director at Manatt, Phelps and Phillips, and a general partner at Scrub Capital."He's been given carte blanche, apparently, to take this on. Coupled with GLP-1s, I could see America really doing something interesting around food in the next couple of years," Farr said.

Healthcare investors are torn on Trump's second term

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The tech industry is anticipating an upswing thanks to Trump's election this week.</li><li>VCs expect possible deregulation to boost innovation, with Musk potentially influencing government policies.</li></ul>Some venture capitalists <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-valley-trump-return-startups-venture-capital-2024-11">expect US President Donald Trump</a> to dial back regulation, potentially making it easier to develop new technologies and do business in Silicon Valley. Many of these hopes are pinned on Elon Musk's involvement in the new administration."The most exciting thing of all will be putting Elon in charge of government efficiency," Ben Narasin, founder and general partner of Tenacity Venture Capital, told BI of the election outcome. "He's going to take a chainsaw through calcified butter, and it's going to be awesome to attack the bloat and overreach that we've had in the government."Trump is <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-could-be-donald-trump-advisor-wsj-reports-2024-5">reportedly considering Musk</a> for White House roles, including ones that would audit various federal programs and organizations.Musk, in turn, has proposed creating a "Department of Government Efficiency" — cheekily nicknamed DOGE, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/history-elon-musk-love-affair-dogecoin-2022-7">a nod to the cryptocurrency Dogecoin</a> — that he said would remove dealmaking regulations that have slowed M&amp;A in the tech sector in recent years.While many in Silicon Valley dislike Trump, many VCs and startup founders crave more freedom to pursue riskier new technologies unburdened by regulation. In short, tech is stoked about this."Trump-Vance ticket is the first unabashedly pro-tech presidency in our Nation's history," said Augustus Doricko, CEO and founder of cloud seeding startup Rainmaker. He expects an onslaught of tech innovation during the Trump administration.In conversations with more than a dozen VCs and Silicon Valley executives following the election, many have echoed this sentiment — including those who supported Kamala Harris in the election."With a major push to remove unnecessary red tape and over-regulation in key areas, we could really have a century of crazy building, innovation, and acceleration," Aaron Levie, the CEO of cloud company Box and a Harris supporter, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://twitter.com/levie/status/1854237056287060266">posted on X Wednesday. </a>"Excited for Elon's efforts here."Mark Pincus, an early Facebook investor and the founder of Zynga, responded on X, "Effective accelerationism! E-acc," referring to the recent Silicon Valley movement that wants <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/effective-accelerationism-humans-replaced-by-ai-2023-12">technological advancements in AI</a> to move as fast as possible, without any guardrails.<h2 id="04af9d99-2642-43c3-875c-92cb63b01ca9">Regulation has held Silicon Valley back in recent years</h2>VCs during Biden's presidency have complained about how tough it's been to get deals done. The outgoing administration was an antitrust enforcer and put many tech mergers and acquisitions on hold that it deemed anti-competitive. This is particularly galling for VCs because they rely on selling startups in M&amp;A deals for many of their exits and returns.Limits on tech M&amp;A have "caused the rate of venture capital return of distributed proceeds to fall drastically, making new capital formation near impossible," said Louis Lehot, a top tech lawyer at law firm Foley &amp; Lardner. Silicon Valley is looking for a relaxation in the government's stance here "to enable exits and new capital formation, which is the cycle of innovation," he added.For example, regulatory pressure had <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-07-23/google-s-aborted-deals-for-wiz-hubspot-show-antitrust-s-shadow-over-tech">dampened deal-making at Google</a>, with the tech giant abandoning two potential purchases this year, including cybersecurity startup Wiz, which would have been one of the tech giant's biggest-ever acquisitions.The US also opened antitrust investigations into <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-acquihire-deal-inflection-ai-antitrust-probe-us-regulators-competition-2024-6">Microsoft</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elizabeth-warren-backs-justice-department-nvidia-antitrust-investigation-2024-9">Nvidia</a> earlier this year over their dominance in the hot AI space. The Federal Trade Commission is probing Microsoft's aqui-hire of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-hired-inflection-team-amid-board-concerns-about-openai-2024-3">Inflection AI,</a> and the Department of Justice is investigating Nvidia's acquisition of Israeli AI startup Run:ai.While some lawmakers say that allowing a few companies to influence the majority of AI research, development, and monetization poses an economic risk, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-vcs-in-silicon-valley-2024-7">many VCs have cried foul and accused FTC commissioner Lina Khan</a> — who has frequently sued to block mergers — of an anti-business bent and say it's tricked down to closing fewer startups deals, too.Investors were also critical of what they call <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cryptocurrency-bitcoin-influence-election-trump-harris-2024-10">unclear rules for cryptocurrency under the Biden regulation</a>. Many VCs and founders in the space donated to Trump and other Republican candidates, which they consider more favorable toward crypto technologies and markets.VCs are now hopeful that Trump <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-presidency-affect-big-tech-2024-11">could roll back</a> some antitrust and crypto policies that a Harris administration may have continued, although nothing is certain about the new administration's approach.Trump's running mate and former VC JD Vance has <a target="_blank" rel=" nofollow" href="https://thehill.com/policy/technology/4491363-vance-biden-ftc-chief-is-doing-a-pretty-good-job/">publicly said</a> that Khan is "doing a pretty good job," referring to her antitrust enforcement for Big Tech companies. At the end of Trump's first term, regulators under his administration launched antitrust investigations into Big Tech companies, including Amazon; and filed antitrust lawsuits against Google and Meta."At a high level, we expect Trump to cut corporate taxes and regulations, helping startup M&amp;A and investment," said Mason Angel, general partner at Industrious Ventures. "We may see new acquisition efforts by big tech with a new FTC director."Musk's influence could also help slim down the government's involvement in tech deals, these VCs told BI."Elon is a positive force who's had to run multiple companies that are heavily regulated, so he has a realistic view; since he's lived it, he can be influential," Narasin said of Musk's track record of building Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI. "He's pro-startup, pro-business, pro-everything that will help the US population. A good, healthy economy is good for everybody."<h2 id="a31623cb-2e54-4906-802e-37c294e98064">VCs anticipate an innovation boom</h2>America is a country of entrepreneurs, and that's especially true in Silicon Valley. Some VCs and founders say that having an entrepreneur like Musk influencing the Trump administration and potentially wiping away regulations will bring prosperity to the industry.Indeed, <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/trump-trade-us-presidential-election-dollar-treasuries-stocks-crypto-djt-2024-11">the stock market responded exuberantly</a> to Trump's decisive win on Tuesday night, which could eventually be a boon to venture firms seeking investments. Limited partners such as pensions and endowments have been choosier recently thanks to high interest rates and few exit options for startups. But their return to funding venture firms would, in turn, mean that more founders are building and getting funded."I would like to see the President given the power to unilaterally remove, or at least streamline, regulations around major projects or economic areas that will make it possible to actually build new things," tech blogger Ben Thompson <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://stratechery.com/2024/president-trump-take-two-big-tech-little-tech-chips-and-hardware-elon-musks-triumph/">wrote after the election.</a> "There needs to be a way to cut through all of the red tape that has accumulated.""I think the next four years will be imbued with aspirational mega-projects and visionary initiatives without precedent," Rainmaker's Doricko said. "New cities. Lunar and Martian colonization. Free electricity. Weather control."Angel, whose VC firm invests in the space, industrial, and defense sectors, says that those industries will experience strong growth."Trump created the Space Force in 2019, and his close relationship with Elon Musk will bring renewed attention and government investment into the field," Industrious Ventures' Angel said. "Same goes for the US industrial and defense bases."As various sectors within the tech industry ebb and flow, VCs say they're optimistic about the idea of having one of their own helping to call the shots at the federal level."Elon's going to be an enormously positive monster who delivers a cleaned up, slimmed down, pro-business government, and there will be prosperity for everybody," Narasin said.

Silicon Valley is betting a Musk-inspired Trump could unleash a startup boom

Kamala Harris had <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tech-investors-raise-money-for-kamala-harris-over-zoom-2024-8">friends in high-tech places,</a> but it wasn't nearly enough to secure the presidency.Silicon Valley's progressive leaders, like <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-valley-billionaires-investors-kamala-harris-mark-cuban-reid-hoffman-2024-8">Reid Hoffman, Laurene Powell, and Vinod Khosla,</a> raised millions for the Harris campaign, hoping for a Democrat in the White House for the next term. In the aftermath of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-wins-presidential-election-race-2024-11">Donald Trump's clear win,</a> some of tech's denizens stewed on what will happen next for their industry. Even in their sadness following Wednesday's results, traces of cautious optimism started to appear.In conversations with over a dozen VCs and founders, there was a sense that the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/openness-in-ai-is-necessary-ftc-lina-khan-2024-7">regulatory climate</a> might soften, potentially easing antitrust scrutiny and allowing a wave of mergers and acquisitions to proceed unfettered. The election result, coupled with the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/trump-trade-us-presidential-election-dollar-treasuries-stocks-crypto-djt-2024-11">stock market's exuberant response,</a> could light up the exit market like the Fourth of July, signaling private companies to finally go public. While many Silicon Valley VCs and founders aren't huge Trump fans, their industry thrives when startups are getting acquired or going public quickly. The Biden administration clamped down heavily on tech M&amp;A, so Trump's win could be a financial boon for the sector. There's also hope and early signs of VC fund investors being more open to putting fresh money into the asset class.The outcome could be good for startups who have been sitting on the sidelines for the past few years hoping to go public (and their investors), said Jordan Nof, a managing partner of Tusk Venture Partners, an early-stage investor.Stephen Hays, the founder and managing partner of What if Ventures, said money is already moving again. He received two emails from investors on Wednesday morning about committing more capital to deals <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stephen-hays-mental-health-vc-what-if-ventures-addiction-2024-7">his syndicate</a> can access. Both said they had waited for the election to pass to start writing bigger checks.Trump's <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/election-results-trump-harris-presidential-election-2024-11">return to the White House</a> will ripple through the technology sector in unpredictable and potentially transformative ways, though tech policy was largely an afterthought this election cycle. In his campaign, Trump played on people's anxieties about the economy to win over swing voters, while Harris cast herself as the candidate who would reach across the aisle on housing and immigration.In the short term, the election outcome is good for business, said a Bay Area-based investor. Trump is allied with some well-known tech people like Elon Musk, there's likely to be more permissive M&amp;A, and the price of bitcoin is at record highs. But there is longer-term uncertainty and questions remaining about whether Trump will shake the foundations of the US's economy and society, he added. <h2 id="747090b3-65d2-4542-aee5-ef26eab9cdcf">Big Tech returns to the table</h2>As president, Trump <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-presidency-affect-big-tech-2024-11">could roll back</a> some of the antitrust policies that his opponent would have continued. The Biden administration was a much tougher antitrust enforcer, putting many technology mergers and acquisitions on hold. That trickled down to little tech in the form of fewer deals closed.Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan's status could be in jeopardy once Trump takes over in January. She has been one of the main drivers of tougher antitrust enforcement in tech deals. On Wednesday, Lulu Cheng Meservey, the communications whisperer to tech firms like Y Combinator, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://x.com/lulumeservey/status/1854169233917100089">tweeted</a> a photo of Khan with LinkedIn's #OpenToWork badge."I believe we'll see the markets open back up for M&amp;A, a more business-first approach," said Brandon Brooks, a partner at the tech investment firm Overlooked Ventures. He added that having a former venture capitalist in the White House — Trump's heir apparent, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jd-vance-silicon-valley-tech-leaders-rally-around-harris-trump-2024-8">JD Vance</a> — could bring "a more private market focus" to the presidency.Investors such as SignalFire founder Chris Farmer and Mason Angel of Industrious Ventures said a more relaxed approach to antitrust enforcement could <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/more-startups-get-bought-up-by-private-equity-vc-2024-8">unlock billion-dollar exits</a> for a limited set of founders and venture capitalists who have a vested interest in acquisitions picking back up. That's how they return profits to investors.Louis Lehlot, a partner at Foley &amp; Lardner, expects a respite from the antitrust crackdown to "enable Big Tech buyers to return the table." He said, "They have been frozen out for nearly four years, essentially warned not to even try to acquire new companies, and in some cases, to prepare for their looming defenestration."The question of how a second Trump term affects the stock market also has far-reaching consequences for tech. Fewer dollars are flowing into the venture capital funds that keep tech firms flush with cash. Limited partners such as pensions and endowments that fund venture firms have been choosier over months of higher interest rates and a shortage of private company exits to the public market.<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/trump-victory-stock-market-today-dow-tsla-djt-bitcoin-yields-2024-11?_gl=1*1z0y7qj*_ga*MTQ0NjYxMDEzMC4xNzIyMzAwMzYy*_ga_E21CV80ZCZ*MTczMDkwNTI4Ny4yMjEuMS4xNzMwOTEwMTk4LjYuMC4w">Markets rallied</a> on Wednesday as Trump's victory ended one of the most contentious presidential elections in modern history. It's unclear how long the "<a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/trump-trade-us-presidential-election-dollar-treasuries-stocks-crypto-djt-2024-11?_gl=1*rc7o27*_ga*MTQ0NjYxMDEzMC4xNzIyMzAwMzYy*_ga_E21CV80ZCZ*MTczMDkwNTI4Ny4yMjEuMS4xNzMwOTEwMzc3LjE2LjAuMA..">Trump trade</a>" boom will last and whether conditions for venture firms seeking investment will improve anytime soon."I think the concerns around tariffs and the rising cost of capital make our asset class less attractive if people can earn better rates of return elsewhere," said Michael Greeley, a general partner at Flare Capital Partners.<h2 id="e24a95d8-c99b-496b-802b-cb9a8404aa33">Crypto wins, uncertainty for climate</h2>This election marked the first with artificial intelligence in play, and as president, Trump will have to contend with how to regulate it. Though he hasn't released a detailed policy agenda, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-harris-presidency-impact-ai-artificial-intelligence-2024-10">analysts expect</a> Trump will ease up-regulation. His campaign pledged to repeal a Biden-era executive order that set guardrails on the technology and that some conservatives in tech argued went too far.Trump is also seen as bullish for crypto.The blockchain sector, including many VCs who invest in the sector, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link c-link--focus-visible" href="https://time.com/7173421/what-donald-trump-election-win-means-for-crypto/">poured $100 million</a> into elections this year. Trump <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link c-link--focus-visible" href="https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/11/06/trumps-triumph-is-also-cryptos-gensler-regulatory-clouds-likely-to-vanish/">positioned himself</a> as the pro-crypto candidate, promising to make the US <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link c-link--focus-visible" href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-bitcoin-cryptocurrency-stockpile-6f1314f5e99bbf47cc3ee6fc6178588d">"the crypto capital of the world,"</a> and pledging he would fire Biden-appointed SEC chairman Gary Gensler, who has cracked down on the crypto regulation. Trump has also publicly said he <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link c-link--focus-visible" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/11/06/trump-claims-presidential-win-here-is-what-he-promised-the-crypto-industry-ahead-of-the-election.html">would</a> "keep all the bitcoin the US government currently holds or acquires into the future." Bitcoin surged to a record high of $75,000 after Trump's victory was confirmed.Investors in climate tech were more apprehensive about what a second Trump term means for clean energy. Trump's on-again, off-again support for nuclear energy could result in new legislation to "expand alternative energy sources, particularly by accelerating the deployment of advanced nuclear micro-reactors," said Brian Garrett, managing director at Crosscut Ventures.Meta, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/16/business/energy-environment/amazon-google-microsoft-nuclear-energy.html">Google, </a>Microsoft and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-nuclear-power-strategy-ai-2024-10">Amazon</a> are all exploring using nuclear energy to power their data centers. Garrett shared tech investor Jenny Fielding's concerns that the new administration could repeal the Inflation Reduction Act, a bill that fueled investment in the clean-tech sector by green-lighting $369 billion in subsidies to public and private actors. He said Trump could retract the unspent funds crucial to upgrading energy infrastructure in the country."While regulations were always more progressive in places like Europe, if the climate [regulation] under Biden and the Inflation Reduction Act are rolled back, this could be a significant setback for climate tech companies operating (hoping to sell) in the US," said Fielding, a managing partner at Everywhere Ventures, which invests globally.In other pockets of the Valley, investors rolled up their sleeves for a new day of dealmaking. "People are keeping to themselves and just getting on with their business," said Conrad Burke, a managing partner of MetaVC Partners.Leslie Feinzaig, a venture capitalist who <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tech-investors-raise-money-for-kamala-harris-over-zoom-2024-8#the-group-vcs-for-kamala-which-published-an-open-letter-in-support-of-harris-a-week-ago-held-a-virtual-fundraising-party-with-about-600-guests-2">became one of tech's bundlers for Harris,</a> sent an email to members of the VCs for Kamala group on Wednesday morning. "It hurts, of course, but it's a hurt we are familiar with," she wrote. "I've been here enough times that I know what I'm supposed to do: Get back up, learn the lesson, and get back to work."

Silicon Valley is officially grieving over Trump but quietly gleeful over a coming tech deal resurgence

<ul class="summary-list"><li>PowerSchool sells student data without parents' informed consent, a federal lawsuit alleges.</li><li>The edtech giant calls the lawsuit's allegations "unfounded and inaccurate."</li></ul>It's been 10 years since Emily Cherkin helped her son log onto a school computer on his first day of Kindergarten."He can't even write his name. Why am I teaching a five-year-old control-alt-delete?" she remembers asking herself.Cherkin, a Seattle mother of two, former teacher, and author of the new parenting guide <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.google.com/search?q=emily+cherkin+the+screentime+solution&amp;rlz=1C5GCEM_enUS1094US1095&amp;oq=emily+cherkin+the+screentime+solution&amp;gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRigATIHCAIQIRigATIHCAMQIRigATIHCAQQIRigATIHCAUQIRigATIHCAYQIRirAtIBCTEwMzY5ajBqN6gCALACAA&amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;ie=UTF-8">"The Screentime Solution,"</a> is now the lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit that alleges the education technology giant PowerSchool is selling student data, including health and disciplinary records, to its third-party "partners," and doing so without the informed consent of kids or parents.The lawsuit, filed in May in federal court in San Francisco, takes on the world's largest provider of cloud-based software for K-12 schools.PowerSchool, based in Folsom, California, manages data and crunches it into what it calls "analytics and insights" for more than 60 million students and their educators, including <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.powerschool.com/global/north-america/united-states/">at 90 of the top 100 US school systems by enrollment size</a>.Boston-based private equity firm <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rak-garg-bain-capital-ventures-youngest-partner-2024-7">Bain Capital</a> acquired PowerSchool for $5.6 billion in a deal finalized October 1. PowerSchool <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.powerschool.com/bain-capital/#:~:text=(%E2%80%9CPowerSchool%E2%80%9D%20or%20the%20%E2%80%9C,value%20of%20approximately%20%245.6%20billion.">CEO Hardeep Gulati said</a> the merger will help the company expand its award-winning products, including <a target="_blank" href="https://www.powerschool.com/powerschool-ai/powerbuddy/?utm_id=ps00032&amp;utm_campaign=powerschool_powerbuddy_paid-search__pkg00035&amp;utm_source=google&amp;utm_medium=paid-search&amp;utm_content=text-only&amp;_bk=powerbuddy&amp;_bt=702266406463&amp;_bm=e&amp;_bn=g&amp;_bg=161909434485&amp;cq_plac=&amp;cq_net=g&amp;cq_pos=&amp;cq_med=&amp;cq_plt=gp&amp;gad_source=1&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQjwsoe5BhDiARIsAOXVoUucdfp2kkZDiwXnqSDBRfimw6rztJoPhTxmV5nwd8F7Y9ZtUlGzj3IaAqMIEALw_wcB">PowerBuddy,</a> its new generative AI platform.With two parents and their children as sole plaintiffs, the Cherkin lawsuit may seem a small effort by comparison, but it's throwing big rocks.<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25260275-cherkin-v-powerschool-complaint-20240506">The lawsuit</a> caps Cherkin's decade of concern about children and screen time. It calls PowerSchool a "multibillion-dollar surveillance-technology empire." It demands that the company pay back untold millions of dollars earned by selling student data "products" to more than 100 of its <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.powerschool.com/company/partners/">partners</a>, including educational consulting firms and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25259171-powerschool-guide-to-p20w">government policymakers</a>.One partner, an educational consulting firm, offers marketing guidance to colleges, trade schools, and the military based on data from the 6 million high school students who use PowerSchool's Naviance college-planning software, the lawsuit alleges."PowerSchool collects this highly sensitive information under the guise of educational support," the lawsuit alleges, "but in fact collects it for its own commercial gain," while hiding behind "opaque terms of service such that no one can understand."PowerSchool is throwing big rocks back.The days of "spiral-bound grading books" are long over, the edtech company's lawyers counter in <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25260257-cherkin-v-powerschool-motion-to-dismiss-20240722">a motion to dismiss</a> filed in July.The motion argues that PowerSchools is legally allowed to collect data voluntarily submitted by students and administrators, along with metadata about "unique device identifiers," IP addresses, and "cookie data."PowerSchool also argues that it "adequately discloses" what data it collects.PowerSchool spokesman Austin Zerbach told BI that no PowerSchool product sells any form of student data. "PowerSchool does not endorse or support any use of student educational records other than as agreed to by our customers, the schools and districts controlling the student education record, nor do we conduct targeted advertising with personal data of students," PowerSchool spokesman Zerbach said in a written statement.<h2 id="d912114d-9964-433f-80b6-1ed9123210db">A 345-terabyte trove of data</h2>The information PowerSchool collects from students is "virtually unlimited," the lawsuit says.It lists more than 50 kinds of data that PowerSchool says in public disclosures it "may" collect, including "extracurricular program membership" and "student assessments."<div type="image" title="Categories of data PowerSchool public disclosures mention the edtech company &quot;may&quot; collect." height="1076" width="766" msid="114945245" hostid="261" sizebytes="23708"></div>PowerSchool also tells users it may collect "student behavior data" and information about "physical and mental disabilities," according to the lawsuit.PowerSchool's "data trove" totals some "345 terabytes of data collected from 440 school districts," and includes information from nearly 20 edtech companies it has acquired since 2015, including Schoololgy and Kickboard, a "student behavior management and reporting program," the lawsuit alleges.What's done with the data?The lawsuit alleges that in addition to being aggregated into lucrative analytics "products" for third parties, it's used to "train its AI technologies," including a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.powerschool.com/powerschool-ai/powerbuddy/?utm_id=ps00032&amp;utm_campaign=powerschool_powerbuddy_paid-search__pkg00035&amp;utm_source=google&amp;utm_medium=paid-search&amp;utm_content=text-only&amp;_bk=powerschool%20powerbuddy&amp;_bt=702266406463&amp;_bm=e&amp;_bn=g&amp;_bg=161909434485&amp;cq_plac=&amp;cq_net=g&amp;cq_pos=&amp;cq_med=&amp;cq_plt=gp&amp;gad_source=1&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjw-JG5BhBZEiwAt7JR6wXcuxvpa0vkLTae4QJjMPAdsAXLaqF5-fArp6Ea0cuLbThmuvw7YBoCCiwQAvD_BwE">PowerBuddy</a> chatbot marketed not only to educators but to "state officials" for the purpose of "workforce planning," the lawsuit alleges.<div type="image" title="PowerSchool also publicly discloses that it may collect &quot;student behavior data&quot; and records of &quot;physical and mental disabilities,&quot; the Cherkin lawsuit alleges." height="1512" width="822" msid="114945247" hostid="261" sizebytes="38602"></div><h2 id="58f65212-0185-4112-b583-39eb1ada3ba6">The data is anonymized</h2>The data shared with third parties is anonymized, but the lawsuit raises concerns that it is so "granular" that it can be reverse-engineered to identify individual students."There are data brokers — they're called identity-resolution companies — that collect information from internet users, re-identify the data, and then sell it," said attorney Julie Liddell, whose Austin, Texas-based <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://edtech.law/about-us/">EdTech Law Center </a>represents Cherkin in the suit.Technology can easily re-identify anonymized student data, said Chad Marlow, senior policy counsel at the ACLU, where he focuses on privacy, surveillance, and technology issues."A generation ago, the most private student data was kept in a locked steel file cabinet in the principal's office, and it was very hard to share that information," Marlow said. "Nowadays the ability to share and reshare that data can be as easy as pressing a key on a keyboard."<div type="image" title="PowerSchool's marketing of student data systems to state government agencies." height="2394" width="1955" msid="114945234" hostid="261" sizebytes="89902"></div>Among the "products" PowerSchool offers educators, policymakers, and government agencies is its <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.powerschool.com/college-career-and-life-readiness-cloud/connected-intelligence-p20w/">"P20W Cradle-to-Career State Data Systems."</a>Its data is touted as "longitudinal," captured from the same students from K-12 through post-secondary education and into the workforce.<div type="image" title="PowerSchool markets &quot;efficient access to both historical and current data&quot; from students to government agencies." height="1486" width="1744" msid="114945238" hostid="261" sizebytes="109230"></div>"It's telling state and local governments, 'You will not get a more robust picture of children, starting from their earliest days,'" said Liddell."And this is not just for educational services," she told BI. "It's for workforce planning, for healthcare planning, for juvenile justice and law enforcement planning," she said.PowerSchool's motion to dismiss the lawsuit, including on grounds that it misapplies the law and fails to state "actual damages," will be argued in San Francisco on Thursday before US District Judge James Donato."The claims made in the complaint are unfounded and inaccurate," Zerbach, the PowerSchool spokesman, told BI.The company "strictly and proactively follows all legal, regulatory, and voluntary requirements for <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.powerschool.com/privacy/">protecting student privacy</a>," the statement said, pointing to PowerSchool's online "<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.powerschool.com/blog/commitment-to-protecting-student-data-privacy/">commitment to protecting student data privacy.</a>""No PowerSchool product, including Connected Intelligence P20W, sells any form of student data," the spokesman said. "Connected Intelligence P20W provides a unified, secure, and integrated platform for education and government agencies to securely unify, integrate, and access their own source system data in a state-specific data cloud. As with all PowerSchool products, only authorized users have data access with stringent data governance as defined by the state agency. "PowerSchool began selling software to help schools track grades, attendance, and enrollment in 1996.Apple purchased the company for $62 million in 2001, then sold it to Vista Equity Partners in 2015. Vista Equity retains a minority investment stake, as does Onex Partners, according to PowerSchool's Bain merger announcement.When the deal closed on October 1, shares of the edtech leader, which had been trading as PWSC, were delisted from the NYSE.The Bain-PowerSchool deal comes on the heels of global investment firm KKR &amp; Co. Inc's $4.8 billion acquisition of the Salt Lake City-based edtech firm Instructure Holdings, Inc., <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/instructure-to-be-acquired-by-kkr-for-4-8-billion-302206622.html">announced in July.</a>"It's unsurprising that private equity firms are increasingly interested in acquiring companies that have access to troves of highly valuable data," Liddell told BI.As a private company, "they will no longer be legally bound to make even the minimum disclosures required by a public company," she said.A spokesperson for Bain Capital did not respond to a request for comment on this story.

A lawsuit accuses Bain Capital's PowerSchool of trafficking in student data. The edtech giant says everything it does is legal.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Intel, once a chip-design leader, struggled over missed AI opportunities and manufacturing delays.</li><li>Nvidia will be replacing Intel in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.</li></ul>Once a Silicon Valley leader, Intel has been a staple of the computer-chip-making business for decades. In the past several years, it has fallen from grace, failing to jump on the AI train in time.The S&amp;P Dow Jones Indices said Friday that <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nvidia-replace-intel-dow-jones-industrial-average-2024-11">Nvidia will replace</a> Intel on the Dow Jones Industrial Average, a blue-chip index intended to project the most relevant picture of the US economy. The change raises more questions about Intel's role in the future of computing and AI.For decades, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intel-qualcomm-takeover-bid-layoffs-foundry-spin-off-2024-9">Intel</a> led in chip design and manufacturing. A series of missed opportunities over the years has contributed to its current financial challenges.Intel has been trying to correct its course for years. In 2021, it brought back <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intel-pat-gelsinger-20-billion-manufacturing-factories-fabs-semiconductors-2021-3">Pat Gelsinger</a>, a former <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vmware-customers-price-hike-late-fees-broadcom-acquisition-2024-10">VMware</a> CEO and longtime Intel executive who now serves as its chief executive, to revive its leadership status in the chips industry. The company has recently benefited from CHIPS and Science Act funding to create more microchip-manufacturing capabilities in Arizona. And it made a series of acquisitions to catch up on developing more advanced architectures and profit from the artificial-intelligence boom.Intel's American manufacturing efforts are a big gamble for the company's future. Each new semiconductor fabrication plant can take billions of dollars and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link" href="https://download.intel.com/newsroom/2022/manufacturing/fab-final-static.pdf">three to four years</a> to complete, time that Intel may not have.While Intel has built <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2024-intel-comeback-chipmaking/">Ohio factories</a>, major chip designers have not publicly signed up."They just dropped the ball there, and until now, they're trying to build the foundry business. But they haven't even proven that they can make stuff for themselves yet," Stacy Rasgon, a senior analyst at Bernstein Research, said.<h2 id="bd048255-dab1-4f0a-ba47-1f934c9ae769">A series of unfortunate events</h2>Intel was instrumental to the personal-computer boom in the 1990s, designing and manufacturing cutting-edge microprocessors. With its x86 central processing units, Intel drove rivals such as <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amd-ai-vp-gpu-shortage-nvidia-lock-in-2024-7">AMD</a> out of the market.Because of its focus on PCs, Intel chose not to capitalize on mobile-chip growth in the 2000s — a big mistake because of the iPhone boom.In a 2013 interview with The Atlantic, Paul Otellini, then Intel's departing CEO, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/05/paul-otellinis-intel-can-the-company-that-built-the-future-survive-it/275825/">expressed regret</a> over passing up a deal with Apple to design and manufacture chips for the iPhone before the smartphone was introduced. The two companies could not reach an agreement because Intel's forecasts said that volume would not make up for the cost."We ended up not winning it or passing on it, depending on how you want to view it. And the world would have been a lot different if we'd done it," Otellini told The Atlantic. "And in hindsight, the forecasted cost was wrong, and the volume was 100x what anyone thought."Another opportunity came along when <a target="_blank" href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/how-chip-giant-intel-spurned-openai-fell-behind-times-2024-08-07/">OpenAI approached Intel for an investment</a>. OpenAI wanted to reduce its reliance on Nvidia's chips for its AI and build its own infrastructure. The deal fell through, and Reuters said Intel's leadership didn't think generative-AI models would make it to the market soon. That bet would later come back to bite Intel, and now OpenAI has billions in <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-openai-plan-100-billion-supercomputer-stargate-artificial-intelligence-report-2024-3">backing from Microsoft</a>.Intel bought the deep-learning startup <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intel-nervana-nvidia-ai-chips-2019-5">Nervana Systems</a> in 2016 to invest in AI. The chipmaker later ceased operations at Nervana and placed its bets on the Israeli startup <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/habana-labsi-startup-intel-2-billion-ai-strategy-2019-12">Habana Labs</a>, which it acquired for $2 billion in 2019. Habana helped launch Intel's next-generation <a target="_blank" href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/intel-shows-off-latest-gaudi-ai-chip-pitched-towards-enterprises/">Gaudi AI chip</a> for businesses this year.<h2 id="7638c8f7-2f25-407a-b2ad-4138ad761bd4">Intel's lack of GPUs</h2>While Intel focused on CPUs, competitors like the chip designers <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amd-ai-vp-gpu-shortage-nvidia-lock-in-2024-7">AMD</a> and Nvidia hedged their bets with graphics processing units, which could assist with accelerated computing, a critical need for training AI."They didn't really have a GPU product road map," Rasgon said.Intel once had a stand-alone graphics chip called Larrabee in beta development. However, the project was <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnet.com/science/intel-initial-larrabee-graphics-chip-canceled/">canceled</a> in 2009 and converted to a software-development platform after failing to hit performance targets."Nvidia's dominance didn't come from luck. It came from vision and execution. Which Intel lacked," <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/ctnzr/status/1737561214048186680">said an X post from Bryan Catanzaro</a>, the vice president of applied deep-learning research at Nvidia, who previously worked at Intel as an intern on the Larrabee project.The CPUs that made Intel big now have presented what Logan Purk, a senior analyst at Edward Jones, called "the inventor's dilemma," when newer technology replaces incumbents."I think management just rested on their laurels, so to speak, and there wasn't a strong competitor nipping at their heels to force them to continue to push that innovation," Purk said.<h2 id="0e7ae5b4-a209-4704-961a-dc4d42a6e179">Manufacturing delays</h2>Intel's customers and rivals took their silicon business overseas to cut costs. Companies like AMD and Nvidia decided to leapfrog on chip designs while outsourcing manufacturing.Intel's manufacturing capabilities fell behind its customer demands. It ran into delays for its chips while TSMC was shipping chips for Apple, AMD, and Qualcomm. In 2020, Intel announced a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intel-delay-chip-production-stock-plunges-2020-7">delay</a> to its 7-nanometer chips due to a "defect mode" that would have been key for its next generation of chips. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link" href="https://news.samsung.com/global/samsung-begins-chip-production-using-3nm-process-technology-with-gaa-architecture">Samsung</a> and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link" href="https://www.tsmc.com/english/dedicatedFoundry/technology/logic/l_3nm">TSMC</a> soon announced more advanced manufacturing capabilities, fitting more transistors in a processor and leaving Intel behind once again.After using Intel's chips for 15 years on its MacBooks, Apple debuted its <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-m1-chip-risk-moving-away-from-intel-macbook-pro-2020-11">in-house chip design</a> with the M1 in 2020 and contracted out manufacturing to TSMC.Intel is now placing its bets on the 18A chip and its Xeon-data-center chips. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intel-ceo-pat-gelsinger-turnaround-plan-aws-2024-9">Gelsinger's latest announcements</a> point to the creation of an independent subsidiary for Intel's foundries, which would allow for more independence to obtain and borrow capital.<h2 id="d89b101d-83ce-44a9-9eb3-54119fab12e4">A potential Qualcomm merger</h2>When The Wall Street Journal reported on September 20 that Qualcomm had <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/qualcomm-intel-acquisition-chips-semiconductors-tsmc-2024-9">approached Intel</a> for a takeover, tech forums were abuzz — and for good reason.The mobile-chip maker Qualcomm approached Intel to acquire its <a target="_blank" href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/qualcomm-has-explored-acquiring-pieces-intel-chip-design-business-sources-say-2024-09-06/">chip-designing</a> business and, later, for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wsj.com/business/deals/qualcomm-approached-intel-about-a-takeover-in-recent-days-fa114f9d">a merger deal</a>, Reuters and the Journal reported, respectively. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intel-talks-investment-apollo-qualcomm-2024-9">Apollo Global Management</a> has also offered an "equity-like" investment of up to $5 billion, Bloomberg reported.A rescue for Intel is bound up with debates about the US's shifting role in the world's chip industry and the battle for dominance in the era of accelerated computing."If Intel was to be acquired by like a Qualcomm or a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vmware-customers-report-massive-price-increases-since-broadcom-deal-2024-8">Broadcom</a>, or any of these other big chip companies, that would be one of the biggest deals that has ever occurred in the chip space, like monumental," Dan Morgan, a senior trust portfolio manager at Synovus, said.A merger could reinvigorate the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tsmc-arizona-semiconductor-chip-fab-taiwan-china-president-joe-biden-2024-4">Biden administration's efforts</a> to position the US as a global chip-manufacturing hub and create a competitor capable of challenging Nvidia's monopoly in the AI-chip market, Morgan said.Even if <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/qualcomm-considers-intel-buyout-analysts-see-major-hurdles-2024-9">Qualcomm acquired Intel</a>, it's unclear what it would do with Intel's manufacturing operations. Though it would help Qualcomm diversify its products, a takeover would be a difficult bridge between the two companies and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/qualcomm-considers-intel-buyout-analysts-see-major-hurdles-2024-9">wouldn't patch up</a> Intel's weaknesses, analysts have said."Now, you're buying their PCs and servers at present, but you're buying all the issues in their foundry business," Morgan said. "Why would you want to get involved in that? That is a huge undertaking."

Why all eyes are on America's fallen tech giant Intel, which is losing its spot in the Dow Jones Industrial Average

New Delhi: After two <keyword id="19945688" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="acquisitions" source="keywords">acquisitions</keyword> this year, India's second-largest IT services company <keyword id="19906778" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Infosys" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Infosys" meta.hostid="268" meta.entityid="Infosys">Infosys</keyword> is on the lookout to scoop-up more firms and says the acquisition matching scale of recent in-tech buy is certainly a possibility. In an interview to PTI, <keyword id="24144" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="infosys-ceo" source="Orion">Infosys CEO</keyword> <keyword id="20115570" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="salil-parekh" source="keywords">Salil Parekh</keyword> said the company is keen on acquisitions in areas like data analytics, SAAS, and may look at some geographies within Europe, and the US. Asked if more acquisitions could be of the scale matching in-tech, which came with a price-tag of 450 million euros, <keyword id="20039787" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="parekh" source="keywords">Parekh</keyword> said, "Absolutely, I think those would be the size that we will look at in terms of scale, and given our structure we could do a few of those." Back in January, Infosys announced a definitive agreement to acquire 100 per cent of the equity share capital in InSemi Technology Services, a semiconductor design services company headquartered in India, for a consideration (including earn-outs, and management incentives and retention bonuses) totalling up to Rs 280 crore. A bigger acquisition followed in three months. In April, Infosys Germany, a wholly-owned step-down subsidiary, entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 100 per cent of the equity share capital in in-tech Holding -- leading provider of engineering R&amp;D services headquartered in Germany -- for a consideration of up to 450 million euros (about Rs 4,045 crore). "We have very good business in engineering services already within Infosys and then we did those two acquisitions, both of them in engineering services, one on semiconductor side and one on the automotive side... very strong businesses, and we feel quite good about expanding that footprint," Parekh said. Infosys is eyeing more acquisitions, he said, adding that the company is evaluating several firms. "We have a good balance sheet and good cash generation and now we are quite comfortable with the integration of acquisition in different areas. We have done engineering services, we will look at other areas... for example data analytics... may look at SAAS (software as a service) areas, and maybe at some other geographies in Europe, maybe the US as well," he said. Parekh, however, said a lot depends on strategic synergies, financial cost, cultural fit and integration aspects. "We are continuing to look, and we have things that are normally in the pipeline but those take their own time... there are a lot of discussions on strategic fit, on financial cost of it and cultural fit into the company and then how will we integrate them. Many of those discussions are ongoing and we will see what comes out," the Infosys top honcho said. On whether he is hopeful of closing more acquisitions this fiscal year, Parekh indicated that it is tough to put a timeline on the outcome of ongoing discussions. "It is difficult to say... we are evaluating several (of them). But to get a fit on the strategic parameters, financial parameters, culture, integration... all of it may not work out. But these two (InSemi and in-tech) happened relatively quickly... before that for some quarters we had not done anything. It is not a predictable thing, but the evaluation is ongoing," he said. According to the Grant Thornton Bharat Dealtracker Q2 2024 report, Indian dealmaking saw overall 501 deals, valued at USD 21.4 billion. The report said the second quarter of 2024 witnessed the highest quarterly volumes since the second quarter of 2022, while values declined due to the absence of big-ticket merger and acquisition transactions. Grant Thornton Bharat Dealtracker further said the merger and acquisition (M&amp;A) activity during the second quarter saw 132 deals worth USD 6.2 billion, marking a slight increase in volumes but a substantial 50 per cent drop in values. As per the report, domestic deals drove growth with volumes rising 29 per cent and values increasing 2.5 times compared to the first quarter of the current year. In contrast, cross-border deals experienced a decline, with volumes decreasing 24 per cent and values plummeting 85 per cent from the first quarter of 2024.

Infosys is keen on more acquisitions, says CEO Salil Parekh

A significant percentage of organizations see artificial intelligence as the key to <keyword id="19959627" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="competitive-advantage" source="keywords">competitive advantage</keyword>. According to the "Industry 5.0 and <keyword id="19899640" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="AI" source="keywords">AI</keyword> Report," compiled by <keyword id="22094332" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="BML-Munjal-University" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="BML Munjal University" meta.hostid="153" meta.entityid="BML Munjal University">BML Munjal University</keyword>, 44% of organizations have experienced a significant boost in productivity through <keyword id="20230984" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="AI-integration" source="keywords">AI integration</keyword>. Additionally, 21% reported that AI can play a pivotal role in driving innovation, enabling the development of new products, services, and business models, particularly in sectors like finance, healthcare, manufacturing, and marketing. "Approximately 33% of organizations focus on product development, while 29% leverage AI for customer service through chatbots and robotic process automation (RPA). Marketing teams, representing 19% of businesses, utilize AI for trend analysis, while 13% apply AI to improve supply chain management. Financial planning, though less prominent (6%), benefits from AI's efficiency-boosting capabilities," the report added. Based on responses from 1,000 professionals and in-depth interviews with 50 industry experts, the report highlighted a significant shift in how businesses are integrating AI into their strategies. While AI has delivered numerous benefits, the report also highlights some key challenges. "Around 34% of organizations face a critical shortage of AI-trained personnel, which hinders their ability to fully leverage AI's potential. This skills gap highlights the need for better AI education and continuous learning programs. In fact, 31 %of organizations have started mentorship initiatives to help develop talent," the report said. AI's impact varies by sector; in mergers and acquisitions, 28% have seen benefits in personalized campaigns, but data privacy remains a hurdle for 22%. IT and augmented reality sectors report enhanced productivity (44%), but struggle with talent shortages. "In finance, AI improves risk management, though 18% face regulatory challenges. Healthcare has seen advancements in diagnostics, yet ethical concerns remain significant for 18% of professionals. In manufacturing, 23% recognize process optimization benefits from AI, but 21% struggle with legacy system integration," it said. Qualitative interviews with industry professionals reveal that transparency in AI decision-making is crucial, with 21% expressing concerns about the "black box" problem. "There are also ethical concerns, with 20% of respondents mentioning algorithmic bias and 22% expressing worries about data privacy. These issues show the need for responsible <keyword id="20355187" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="AI-governance" source="keywords">AI governance</keyword>, prompting 38.3% of organizations to adopt <keyword id="21198326" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ethical-AI" source="keywords">ethical AI</keyword> guidelines to ensure transparency," it said. According to Pratik Modi, Dean School of Management, BML Munjal University, AI enhances human-machine collaboration. "As organisations embrace this new era, the report's findings offer a roadmap for integrating AI while prioritizing ethical standards and fostering human creativity," it said.

Most organizations see AI as key to competitive advantage, notes a new report

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Expedia stock climbed 8% while Uber stock fell more than 3% in premarket trading on Thursday.</li><li>Uber spoke with advisors about a potential takeover in recent months, The Financial Times reported.</li></ul>Expedia stock jumped as much as 8% in Thursday's premarket, while Uber tumbled more than 3% following a report the ride-hailing giant recently explored a takeover of the travel group.<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/5-reasons-why-uber-is-now-profitable-2024-8">Uber</a> met with advisors in recent months to discuss whether an Expedia acquisition would be feasible and how it might be structured, The Financial Times reported late Wednesday, citing three sources familiar with the talks.A third party raised the idea of buying Expedia to Uber, sources told the FT, adding that merger talks were nascent and a deal might not materialize. One source told the newspaper that Uber hasn't formally approached Expedia, and there were no ongoing discussions between the two companies.<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-the-happiest-workplace-in-the-uk-where-staff-can-get-a-14000-travel-allowance-2016-3">Expedia</a>, which owns the eponymous travel-booking website as well as Hotels.com and Vrbo, would be Uber's biggest acquisition. The company was worth nearly $20 billion at Wednesday's close, less than one-eighth of Uber's $172 billion valuation.The flights-and-hotels specialist generated close to $13 billion of revenue and just over $1 billion of operating income last year, as more than 350 million room nights were booked using its platforms. Uber posted $9.9 billion of revenue and $652 million of operating income in 2023, as users booked more than 2.6 billion trips.A merger would contribute to Uber's ambition of becoming a "<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/uber-amazon-of-transportation-inside-effort-2021-9">super app</a>." Previous acquisitions such as Postmates and Transplace have allowed it to offer car, plane, train, and boat rides on its platform, as well as restaurant and grocery delivery. It has also moved into corporate logistics and advertising.Notably, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/uber-ceo-dara-khosrowshahi-helped-turn-billion-dollar-profit-2024-2">Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi</a> ran Expedia between 2005 and 2017 and remains a non-executive director, suggesting any deal would likely be friendly rather than hostile.

Expedia stock jumps on report that Uber explored a takeover of the travel platform

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kroger-plans-1-billion-by-selling-your-grocery-data-2023-2">Kroger</a> and Albertsons are facing off against the FTC in court over their proposed $24.6 billion merger.</li><li>The FTC argues the merger would reduce competition and raise grocery prices.</li></ul>The fate of the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-kroger-albertsons-merger-impact-workers-shoppers-grocery-inflation-2022-11">largest supermarket merger</a> in US history hangs in the balance as an ongoing three-week hearing unfolds inside an Oregon federal courtroom.Supermarket giants Kroger and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/where-kroger-and-albertsons-grocery-stores-overlap-2022-12">Albertsons</a> are duking it out in court against regulators who are trying to block the companies <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/ftc-states-sue-to-block-kroger-s-24-6-bln-albertsons-deal-1033106297">proposed $24.6 billion merger</a> over antitrust concerns.The chains argue that Kroger's acquisition of Albertsons would boost competition with behemoth retail rivals like <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walton-family-sam-walmart-stock-billionaires-estate-planning-inheritance-wealth-2024-8">Walmart</a>, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/canceled-costco-membership-bad-for-me-would-never-go-back-2023-9">Costco</a> and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-aws-sales-guidelines-spread-doubt-about-openai-ai-capabilities-2024-8">Amazon</a>, while regulators from the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-amazon-execs-signal-messaging-app-ftc-investigation-2024-4">Federal Trade Commission</a> allege the opposite, saying the deal is actually anticompetitive and would result in higher grocery prices for millions of Americans, as well as lower wages for workers.Both sides are currently making their case before US District Judge Adrienne Nelson, who will ultimately decide at the end of the hearing next month whether to approve the FTC's request for a preliminary injunction against the merger.Already this week, a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kroger-milk-eggs-prices-increased-beyond-inflation-executive-testifies-report-2024-8">Kroger executive's internal email about price hikes</a> for eggs and milk beyond the added costs from inflation has drawn scrutiny in the courtroom.If the judge overseeing the hearing ultimately rules in favor of the FTC, the deal between Kroger and Albertsons could end up torpedoed completely. A temporary injunction would put the merger on ice as the FTC holds a separate in-house proceeding over the deal before an administrative law judge."This merger will not occur if this injunction is in place," Kroger attorney Matthew Wolf <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.cincinnati.com/story/money/2024/08/27/ftc-kroger-albertsons-grocery-merger-update-federal-court-hearing/74887346007/">told</a> the court on Monday as the federal court hearing kicked off in Oregon.<div type="image" title="FILE PHOTO: Customers leave an Albertsons grocery store with their purchases in Burbank, California, U.S., July 17, 2012. REUTERS/Fred Prouser" height="2023" width="3000" msid="112932546" hostid="261" sizebytes="279094"></div>Wolf <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://apnews.com/article/kroger-albertsons-grocery-merger-ftc-9fdb26cc044ee21a7a486c03caae6a5d">said</a> that the FTC's internal administrative process is so drawn out that merger deals typically collapse before the proceedings are completed.In his opening statements to the court on Monday, Wolf <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/us-ftcs-bid-block-kroger-albertsons-merger-heads-trial-2024-08-26/">argued</a> that the merger would instantly lower some prices for patrons at Albertsons stores, where company officials disclosed are up to 12% higher than Kroger's.The attempt by federal regulators to lower prices by blocking the merger shows that "they neither understand the industry nor the parties within it," said Wolf."Supermarkets are losing this food fight, and who are they losing it to? Walmart, Costco, and Amazon, among others," Wolf <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.supermarketnews.com/kroger/kroger-albertsons-get-their-day-court">told</a> the court.Albertsons attorney Enu Mainigi said that the retailer may be forced to close stores and lay off workers if the merger does not go through.The FTC's chief trial counsel, Susan Musser, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/26/business/economy/ftc-kroger-albertsons-merger-court.html">argued</a> in her opening statement on Monday that the proposed merger "would eliminate the competition that shoppers and workers depend on in one fell swoop.""This lawsuit is part of an effort aimed at helping Americans feed their families," Musser <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://apnews.com/article/kroger-albertsons-grocery-merger-ftc-9fdb26cc044ee21a7a486c03caae6a5d">said</a>.Dozens of witnesses are expected to testify at the hearing over the next couple of weeks, including the CEOs of Kroger and Albertsons.<h2 id="90321246-9194-42a3-8a64-73496bafb64b">Regulators sued to block the Kroger-Albertsons merger deal earlier this year</h2><div type="image" title="Kroger" height="3456" width="5184" msid="112932542" hostid="261" sizebytes="999610"></div>In February, more than a year after Kroger and Albertsons announced the merger mega-deal, the FTC sued to block it.Attorneys general in Arizona, California, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Wyoming and the District of Columbia all joined the FTC's lawsuit. The attorneys general in Colorado and Washington have also filed separate lawsuits in an attempt to halt the deal."Kroger and Albertsons are two of the largest supermarket chains in thousands of local communities throughout the country," attorneys argue in the FTC lawsuit. "In hundreds of those communities, the proposed acquisition would create a single supermarket with market shares so high as to be presumptively unlawful under the antitrust laws."The lawsuit alleges that "the proposed acquisition would also eliminate the substantial head-to-head competition between Kroger and Albertsons that exists today, which risks higher prices and lower quality for consumers."The FTC says in its lawsuit that the stakes for Americans are "exceptionally high" as the agency notes how grocery prices have risen significantly in recent years."The fierce competition between these two grocery giants has benefited millions of American consumers through lower prices for food and household essentials," the lawsuit says. "It has also benefited hundreds of thousands of grocery store workers who, as a result of competition for their labor, earn better wages and benefits."It continues, "If allowed to proceed, the proposed acquisition would destroy this competition, likely making it more expensive for millions of families to put food on the table."Meanwhile, Kroger filed a lawsuit against the FTC last week, arguing that the agency's administrative proceeding against the merger violates the Constitution while citing, in part, a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/supreme-court-strips-sec-enforcement-power-financial-fraud-jarkesy-2024-6">recent Supreme Court ruling</a>."The merger between Kroger and Albertson's is squarely focused on ensuring we bring customers lower prices starting day one while securing the future of good-paying union jobs," Kroger CEO and chairman Rodney McMullen <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://ir.kroger.com/news/news-details/2024/Kroger-Files-Motion-to-Enjoin-the-FTCs-Administrative-Merger-Challenge/default.aspx">said</a> in a statement at the time."We stand prepared to defend this merger in the upcoming trial in federal court – the appropriate venue for this matter to be heard – and we are asking the Court to halt what amounts to an unlawful proceeding before the FTC's own in-house tribunal," McMullen said.Kroger operates more than 2,700 stores across 36 states under names including Fred Meyer, Dillon's and Smith's, while Albertsons controls more than 2,200 stores across 35 states under banners like Safeway, Shaws, and Acme.In 2022, Kroger and Albertsons generated more than $148 billion and $72 billion in revenues, respectively.As part of the proposed merger, Kroger and Albertsons said they would sell 579 stores to the grocery supply company C&amp;S Wholesale Grocers.

Inside the legal battle over the fate of the biggest supermarket merger in US history

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The creator and marketing company Triller is finally trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker ILLR.</li><li>The company went public via a reverse merger with a Hong Kong-based company called AGBA.</li></ul>The creator services, entertainment, and marketing company Triller — which once positioned itself as a rival to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-tiktok-is-changing-music-industry">TikTok</a> — made its stock market debut on the Nasdaq Wednesday.The company went public via a reverse merger with AGBA Group Holding Limited, a Hong Kong-based wealth management and healthcare firm. A reverse merger occurs when a private company goes public by acquiring a publicly listed company.Triller's stock was down about 20% in its first hour of trading.It's been a tough few years for other creator startups that have made public market debuts, as companies like <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/faze-clan-decline-says-more-about-influencer-startups-than-esports-2023-10">FaZe Clan</a> and Clubhouse Media Group have struggled to show the type of growth that keeps investors happy. The creator economy has largely <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-creator-economy-is-having-an-identity-crisis-2024-1">failed to live up to lofty valuations set by VCs</a>, though <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/acquisition-spree-in-influencer-marketing-is-bolstering-the-creator-economy-2024-9">influencer marketing</a> remains a bright spot in the category.Triller's journey to a public listing has been a winding one. It explored going public via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in late 2020, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-triller-m-a-exclusive-idUSKBN26W0V3/?">Reuters</a> reported. That didn't come to fruition, and in December 2021, the company announced plans to complete a <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/triller-plans-public-reverse-merger-key-takeaways-revenue-losses-users-2022-3">reverse merger</a> with a company called Seachange International. It shut down that effort in June 2022 to instead do a <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/triller-ends-reverse-merger-new-plan-to-go-public-2022-6">direct listing</a>. That also didn't last, as Triller switched again to a reverse merger with AGBA in April and withdrew its direct filing with the SEC in May.Now that investors can buy Triller stock, listed as ILLR, what is the company's pitch?Triller's business today includes a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/investor-deck-shows-triller-pitch-aims-to-go-public-2023-5">mix</a> of creator, marketing, and entertainment services. It owns its <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/triller-gives-up-on-making-money-from-its-namesake-app-2023-8">namesake TikTok-style video app</a>, as well as a fan engagement tool called Fangage, an influencer-marketing platform called Julius, a combat-sports streamer called TrillerTV (formerly dubbed FITE), and a text-marketing tool Cliqz, among other products.AGBA's investor materials around Triller talk about how its different products interact to serve marketers and creators. Creators on Fangage can connect to services like Julius or the Triller app, for example.In filings, AGBA also highlights Triller's work in the buzzy area of AI. The company described Triller's business in an August filing as "a global, artificial intelligence powered technology platform that serves a broad constituency of creators and brands around the world."It's not the first time that Triller's tapped into a trendy topic in tech to connect with investors. In October 2022, as <a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-new-name-meta-rebrand-metaverse-zuckerberg-apps-2021-10">Big Tech</a> and startups alike were captivated by the idea of digital worlds called "metaverses," Triller <a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/triller-introduces-the-metaverz-your-all-access-pass-to-global-entertainment-301651110.html">announced</a> it was launching its own version called the Metaverz. AGBA said in its August filing that the Metaverz could offer augmented reality and virtual experiences, including virtual merchandise stores, for creators and brands.<h2 id="97d853f9-c0dc-41c2-a32b-f81609fd067b">Who are Triller's customers?</h2>Creators, brands, and consumers are the main cohorts that AGBA touts as central to Triller's business in its recent filings. In its description of those stakeholders, the company has discussed both customers that Triller worked with directly and others that it "tracked" but did not have direct relationships with.For example, in an August preliminary proxy statement, the company said Triller's creator accounts grew from somewhere around 2.37 million at the start of Q1 2021 to around 2.47 million in the first quarter of this year. But that tally includes creators the company doesn't directly work with but rather tracks to help "brands identify creators that may be appropriate for their marketing activities."The company had a similar approach for tallying brand partners, examining both brands that it worked with directly and brands that it tracked but were not actively using its products. The number of direct brands it worked with declined from around 250 in Q1 2021 to around 200 in Q1 2024, per a chart in AGBA's August filing.AGBA's tally of consumer accounts for Triller, which includes people who use its products like its Triller app and its combat streamer TrillerTV, also counted accounts that were not directly tied to its owned-and-operated products.AGBA said that as of March 2024, Triller had about 337 million consumer accounts, including inactive accounts, across platforms like the Triller app, TrillerTV, and its combat business BKFC. It separately counted an additional 109 million consumer accounts tied to properties it didn't own but established on behalf of brands and creator partners, including a "Triller brand customer's social media account on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or other platforms."Triller's approach to reporting on its user base has come under scrutiny in the past. In 2020 and 2021, former employees and other people with knowledge of Triller's reporting told media outlets like <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/some-former-triller-employees-wary-of-monthly-active-user-count-2020-9">Business Insider</a> and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link" href="https://www.billboard.com/pro/triller-inflating-public-user-figures/">Billboard</a> that its public monthly active user numbers were inflated compared to internal data and what it shared with rights holders. Former Triller CEO Mike Lu told BI in October 2021 that the former employees were "disseminating inaccurate information." Lu told Billboard in February 2021 that Triller would no longer share monthly active users or daily active users as they didn't accurately represent its business and that it had "never inflated any user numbers."<h2 id="091877de-6fa2-45d6-8bd7-e25fc6976d54">What do Triller's financials look like?</h2>Here's a rundown of what Triller's financials were as of early 2024, per AGBA's filing.<ul><li>As of March 31, 2024, Triller had cash and cash equivalents of $800,000, a working capital deficit of $270.7 million, and an accumulated deficit of $1.6 billion, AGBA wrote in its filing.</li><li>In the first three months of 2024, the company earned about $9.9 million in revenue and saw a net loss of $43 million, compared to about $9.2 million in revenue and a roughly $29 million net loss over the same period in 2023.</li><li>The company earned $45.5 million in revenue in 2023, a 4.5% decline from 2022. Its comprehensive loss in 2023 was around $299 million, up from around <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/triller-heads-nyse-public-tightening-losses-tweaking-pitch-key-takeaways-2023-8">$196 million</a> in 2022. The company previously told BI that some earlier losses were tied to acquisition costs.AGBA wrote in its August filing that Triller has incurred losses each year since its inception and may not become profitable in the future. It said the company has financial obligations which have come due in the past six months and are coming due over the next twelve months and it may not be able to meet its cash obligations as those amounts come due.Triller has been embroiled in legal disputes with music platforms that it previously licensed songs from, contract claims from former employees and business partners, and a dispute over rent payments to the company it leased office space from. AGBA wrote that Triller "may not be able to generate sufficient cash flow to meet its current and any future debt service and other obligations, including amounts owed pursuant to new and ongoing litigation matters."A spokesperson for AGBA did not provide comment by time of publication. Triller did not reply to Business Insider's request for comment.</li></ul>

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