Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit Files for Bankruptcy

Market Movers

• Richard Branson’s space company Virgin Orbit files for bankruptcy. The company on Tuesday said it was working to sell itself.* Just three months ago, it was poised to make history by delivering the first satellites into orbit from the billionaire’s home country of the U.K.—before the high-profile launch ended in the destruction of its satellite payload.

• Walmart revamps website and shifts profits focus. Walmart put a fresh coat of paint on its website, giving it the social media flair of a Pinterest board or Instagram feed designed to keep you scrolling and buying. The downside is online shoppers are hit with infinite ads for sponsored products they never intended on perusing.

• EY banned by German audit watchdog over Wirecard work. Germany’s auditing watchdog announced an unprecedented penalty on accounting giant EY. It’s for the firm’s work with Wirecard. That’s the high-flying payments company that collapsed after revelations of massive accounting fraud. The regulator banned EY from taking on newly listed clients in Germany for two years. Source(1:32)

• Rathbones buys Investec UK wealth unit in £839 million deal. Investec will be a minority shareholder in the enlarged Rathbones entity, with 41.25% stake and 29.9% voting rights, according to a statement Tuesday. The combination will create a wealth manager with about £100 billion in funds* under management and administration, the companies said.

• L’Oreal to buy skincare brand Aesop in $2.5 billion deal. The transaction caps months of negotiations* as other companies, including private equity firm Permira and Chinese investment firm Primavera Capital also showed interest in the Australian brand, owned by Brazil’s Natura & Co. The French buyer will add Aesop to luxury unit alongside Lancome.

What to Watch

• TikTok fined $16 million in UK for misusing kids’ data. TikTok allowed 1.4 million children under the age of 13* to use the app in 2020, despite its own rules requiring users to be above this age to create a TikTok account, the watchdog said. The penalty comes amid calls for the app to be banned in the U.S. over national security concerns.

• FTC orders Illumina to divest $7.1 billion acquisition of cancer test developer Grail. The commission said the deal would stifle competition and innovation in the U.S. cancer market. The decision reverses an administrative judge’s September ruling that dismissed the FTC’s initial challenge to the $7.1 billion deal.

• JPMorgan warns stocks are in ‘calm before the storm’. A risk-on mood fueling this year’s equities rally is likely to falter, with headwinds from bank turbulence, an oil shock, and slowing growth poised to send stocks back toward their 2022 lows*, according to JPMorgan strategist Marko Kolanovic.

• Klaviyo hires bankers, plans for late 2023 IPO. Klaviyo, which was valued at $9.5 billion in a funding round in 2021, has tapped Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to be the lead underwriter for the listing, which could take place as early as September. Should the company manage to debut on that schedule, it would be one of the first big initial public offerings of 2023.*

• Google to cut down on company expenses. In separate documents viewed by CNBC, Google said it’s cutting back on fitness classes, staplers, tape, and the frequency of laptop replacements for employees. One of the company’s important objectives for 2023 is to ensure multi-year savings in preparation for a challenging economic environment.