SoftBank Group Corp (OTC: SFTBY) CEO Masayoshi Son announced that he is resigning from the board of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE: BABA) on Thursday.What Happened Son announced his resignation from Alibaba's board, effective the same day, at the end of SoftBank's annual shareholder meeting, reported the Wall Street Journal. Son's resignation matches the day on which Alibaba CEO Jack Ma's resignation from Softbank's board comes into effect. Ma had announced his resignation last month. The SoftBank chief executive said he was stepping down of his own volition, and that the parting from Alibaba was smooth. Son made clear that there was no discord with Alibaba.Son had been on Alibaba's board since 2005 and Ma on Softbank's since 2007.Why It Matters In 2000, Son had invested $20 million in Alibaba, which has paid SoftBank handsomely. The investment supports the Japanese group's share price, credit rating, and funding activities, according to WSJ.Last...
(Bloomberg) -- Deutsche Lufthansa AG’s biggest stockholder said he’d vote in favor of a 9 billion-euro ($10 billion) government bailout, giving the rescue plan a shot of momentum and boosting the airline’s shares and bonds on the eve of a crunch vote.Billionaire Heinz Hermann Thiele told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that he’d support the package at Thursday’s special shareholder meeting, ending days of frenzied speculation about his intentions. He had earlier criticized a steep discount being granted to the German government on a 20% stake, and held the votes to single-handedly stop the share sale.“I will vote in favor of the proposed resolution,” Thiele told the newspaper in an interview published on its website Wednesday. Lufthansa shares jumped as much as 21% Thursday in early Frankfurt trading, the biggest intraday rise since March 13.The news also triggered a sharp rally in Lufthansa debt, with the company’s euro bonds maturing in 2024 jumping...
(Bloomberg) -- Stocks fell globally with U.S. equity futures while Treasuries edged higher on Thursday as a swell of coronavirus cases in America and other countries sapped appetite for riskier assets.Declines in media and travel shares led the Stoxx Europe 600 sharply lower at the open. Deutsche Lufthansa jumped 21% after its biggest stockholder said he’d vote in favor of a 9 billion-euro ($10 billion) government bailout. Stocks declined in Tokyo, Sydney and Seoul, while China and Hong Kong were shut for holidays.Contracts on the three major American gauges all fell after the indexes each sank more than 2% yesterday. The dollar headed for a second day of gains versus a basket of its peers. West Texas crude oil fell below $38 a barrel, while gold continued its push toward $1,800 an ounce.The pullback from equities and flight to havens reflects investor worries that lockdowns may be reimposed and economies re-opened...
(Bloomberg) -- Germany’s financial watchdog took more than a year to report Wirecard AG for suspected market manipulation after receiving a tip-off from a whistle-blower about irregularities at the payments company.BaFin received documents on Wirecard from an anonymous source in late January 2019 and evaluated them along with a Financial Times report on alleged accounting issues at the company, Germany’s Finance Ministry said in a written response to questions from lawmakers.The ministry’s reply, which is dated April 9, didn’t specify what the documents contained and on what day BaFin received them.The German regulator has come under intense criticism for its handling of a scandal that top government officials said risked damaging the country’s reputation. While the FT detailed suspected fraud and suspicious transactions at Wirecard, BaFin’s immediate efforts last year appeared to be mainly geared toward containing the damage from the allegations by banning investors from betting against the stock.BaFin started...
(Bloomberg) -- SoftBank Group Corp. founder Masayoshi Son ended his company’s annual shareholder meeting with a surprise Thursday by announcing he’s stepping down from the board of Chinese e-commerce titan Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.The billionaire said his departure shouldn’t be interpreted as signifying any disagreements, even though Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma is quitting SoftBank’s board at the same time. Ma and Son have maintained a close friendship since the Japanese entrepreneur was an early investor in Alibaba and helped it along to its current value of roughly $600 billion, calling it the crown jewel of SoftBank’s portfolio.“It’s not like we had a fight,” Son said during the virtual shareholder meeting. “This was perfectly amicable.”While the mutual departures are unlikely to have an immediate impact on either company, they mark the end of an era. The two men are among the most successful entrepreneurs of their generation and have been able to...
Lufthansa shares jumped by 10% on Thursday after investor Heinz Hermann Thiele dropped his objections to a 9 billion euro ($10.12 billion) government bailout to rescue the carrier hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. "I will vote for the proposal," Thiele, who recently increased his stake in Lufthansa to 15.5%, told the Frankfurter Allgemeine daily on Wednesday. Shareholders are due to vote on the bailout at Lufthansa's virtual extraordinary general meeting on Thursday....
(Bloomberg) -- U.S. futures dipped and Treasuries held gains as worries about a surge in virus cases in multiple American states and some other countries sapped appetite for riskier assets. In Asia, Japanese, Australian and Korean shares were all down more than 1%. China and Hong Kong were shut for holidays. The risk-off moves followed daily records for new cases in Florida and California, with Texas also suffering. New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are requiring visitors from virus hot spots to self-quarantine. Australia recorded its largest spike in cases since April. Crude oil prices fell below $38 a barrel in New York. European futures were flat.Market sentiment is rapidly turning more negative on concern that the spreading coronavirus could force policy makers to slow the pace or reverse business re-openings. At the same time, there’s the potential for trade tensions to resurface between the European Union and the U.S.“The market...
