—— Goldman Saches Profit Gains 150%; BlackRock AUM Hits New High; Apple India Revenue Surge 33%; Salesforce to Cut Another 300 Staff; Google In Talks to Acquire Wiz; Calpers Post 9.3% Return Thanks to Stocks; Sequoia Plans to Buy in Stripe
1. Goldman Saches Profit Gains 150%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s trading unit drove a surge in earnings in the second quarter.
Both fixed-income and equity traders exceeded analysts’ estimates, while a rebounding capital-markets business contributed to better-than-expected results across much of the company’s Wall Street operations.
However, in an unexpected twist, Goldman Sachs earned less in fees from arranging mergers than JPMorgan Chase & Co. Goldman typically leads the industry in this area and rarely falls behind its competitor. Despite more businesses seeking deals, the upcoming US elections could further delay a return to the growth pace in mergers seen in recent years. This business is particularly crucial for Goldman, as the firm aims to highlight its robust investment bank and growing asset-management operations after shifting away from expanding into consumer banking.
Shares of the New York-based company have surged 24% this year, reaching an all-time high of $479.88 on Friday. They remained relatively stable in early New York trading on Monday.
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2. BlackRock AUM Hits New High
BlackRock Inc. attracted $51 billion in client cash to its long-term investment funds in the second quarter, pushing its total assets to a record $10.6 trillion, making it the world’s largest money manager.
Investors contributed $83 billion to ETFs and $35 billion to fixed-income assets overall, the New York-based firm announced in a statement on Monday.
“Organic growth was driven by private markets, retail active fixed income, and surging flows into our ETFs, which had their best start to a year on record,” said Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink in the statement.
Additionally, BlackRock saw $30 billion in net flows to cash-management and money-market funds during the period, bringing total net flows to $82 billion. However, net flows to long-term investment funds fell short of the $86 billion average estimate by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
BlackRock’s flows were impacted by a roughly $20 billion active fixed-income redemption from a large insurance client, Chief Financial Officer Martin Small mentioned during the firm’s call with analysts. The firm also reported $35 billions of institutional outflows from its index funds.
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3. Apple India Revenue Surge 33%
Apple Inc.’s annual sales in India reached a record high of nearly $8 billion, highlighting a rapidly expanding market where the company now assembles more of its devices and operates two flagship stores.
Revenue in India increased by about 33% in the 12 months through March, rising from $6 billion the previous year, according to a person familiar with the matter. Apple’s expensive iPhones accounted for more than half of these sales, said the source, who requested anonymity as the information isn’t public.
This growth indicates steady progress in Apple’s efforts to capture market share in the world’s most populous country, where consumers are gradually gaining more purchasing power as the economy grows. Apple is targeting India to diversify its manufacturing and revenue streams beyond the much larger Chinese market, which has become riskier due to trade tensions with the US.
Although Apple doesn’t break out India revenue in its earnings statements, it is required to report annual sales in the country to local authorities. Apple representatives in India did not respond to requests for comment.
Apple shares gained as much as 2.2% in premarket trading in New York on Monday, reaching $235.59.
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4. Salesforce to Cut Another 300 Staff
Salesforce Inc. has cut around 300 roles as part of a broader initiative to streamline operations, emphasizing the tech industry’s ongoing focus on controlling costs.
The software giant made these cuts this month, according to a person familiar with the reductions who requested anonymity as the information isn’t public. The company confirmed the job cuts in a statement but did not provide specific details.
“Like any healthy business, we continuously assess whether we have the right structure in place to best serve our customers and fuel growth areas,” a spokesperson said. “In some cases, that leads to roles being eliminated.”
Although the cuts represent a small fraction of Salesforce’s total workforce, they illustrate the tech industry’s trend of reining in costs following years of rapid hiring. Earlier this year, San Francisco-based Salesforce cut about 700 workers and reduced approximately 10% of its total workforce at the beginning of 2023.
The latest reductions briefly unsettled investors, causing the shares to drop to a session low after Bloomberg reported on the move. The stock fell as much as 0.5% to $252.64 in New York on Monday. As of the end of last week, the stock was down 3.5% for the year.
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5. Google In Talks to Acquire Wiz
Google’s parent company, Alphabet, is in talks to acquire cybersecurity start-up Wiz for approximately $23 billion, which would be the largest acquisition in Alphabet’s history, according to sources familiar with the matter.
One person with direct knowledge of the discussions said the deal is still several weeks away from completion. However, people briefed on the transaction noted that there remains a possibility the deal could fall apart, as several details still need to be resolved in the negotiations.
If the acquisition goes through, it will be a significant test case for antitrust regulators, who have been increasingly scrutinizing tech companies’ buyouts of emerging firms. Alphabet’s last major acquisition was over a decade ago when it bought Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion.
New York-based Wiz has raised about $2 billion from investors since its founding four years ago, according to PitchBook. The start-up, led by Israeli founder and former Microsoft executive Assaf Rappaport, was most recently valued at $12 billion. Its backers include venture capital firms Sequoia and Thrive.
Acquiring Wiz would represent a significant expansion into cybersecurity for Alphabet, following its $5.4 billion purchase of Mandiant two years ago.
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6. Calpers Post 9.3% Return Thanks to Stocks
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (Calpers) reported a 9.3% gain for its latest fiscal year, driven largely by public equity investments and private debt.
The returns, surpassing the annual target of 6.8%, increased the total assets of the largest US public pension fund to $502.9 billion for the fiscal year ending June 30. This asset level covers 75% of its future obligations, an improvement from 72% at the end of the previous year.
The preliminary five-year average return has risen to 6.6%, up from 6.1% in the previous fiscal year.
Calpers highlighted that public equity investments were the top-performing asset class with an estimated 17.5% return, followed by private debt at 17%. Private market returns are reported with a one-quarter lag.
The pension fund is expanding its exposure to private equity and private credit, betting $34 billion on these riskier assets to boost returns. Earlier this year, the board decided to increase the target allocation for private equity to 17% of the portfolio, up from 13%, and private credit to 8%, up from 5%.
To accommodate these changes, Calpers plans to reduce its exposure to publicly traded stocks and bonds.
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7. Sequoia Plans to Buy in Stripe
Stripe’s valuation has increased to $70 billion as Sequoia Capital offers to buy shares from investors looking to cash out of the fintech company, which assists merchants in processing customer payments.
Sequoia is offering to purchase Stripe shares at $27.51 each, according to people familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity as the details are not public. The venture capital firm extended this offer to limited partners in funds raised between 2009 to 2012 who might seek liquidity for their shares, Axios reported on Monday. Sequoia plans to buy up to $861 million in shares, one of the sources said.
Stripe, one of the most valuable private tech companies, was most recently valued at $65 billion after a deal that allowed current and former employees to cash out some of their shares, Bloomberg News reported in February. This valuation was an increase from $50 billion last March but below the $95 billion it was valued at in a 2021 funding round.
Founded by brothers John and Patrick Collison, Stripe has significantly expanded since its inception over a dozen years ago. Its competitors include PayPal Holdings Inc. and Adyen NV.
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本文内容来自《Financial Times》、《Bloomberg》，以及《The Real Deal》等多家财经新闻媒体。