The Daily Ten - A Brawl Between Billionaire Founders at Apollo Sidelines One of Its Own, People would trade sex for house-hunting on Zillow, survey finds...
Friday, April 30th, 2021
1. A Brawl Between Billionaire Founders at Apollo Sidelines One of Its Own | Bloomberg
After urging Leon Black out, Harris is no longer running day-to-day operations
Three months after Josh Harris made his failed pitch to take Leon Black’s crown atop a $455 billion investing juggernaut, Black’s chosen heir is in charge -- and Harris is on the outs.
The behind-the-scenes drama between Apollo Global Management Inc.’s billionaire co-founders keeps brewing, with ramifications for investors as the company reconfigures its governance this year. Publicly, Harris has endorsed the decision to elevate co-founder Marc Rowan to chief executive officer. Privately, he’s being sidelined, even as he remains a “key man” in Apollo’s flagship fund -- meaning investments could stall without him.
People close to the company, speaking on the condition they not be identified, said Harris has relinquished day-to-day handling of operations. He’s less involved in dealmaking than before, with underlings generally seeking his sign-off for only the largest transactions. Outside Apollo, he’s been shopping for a house in Florida to potentially serve as his primary residence, which would lower his tax bill if he starts to draw down the wealth he’s amassed at the company.
2. Why Home Equity Loans Are Still So Hard to Come By | WSJ
Several top banks have yet to resume originating Helocs, and demand for refinancings may be to blame
Homeowners in the market for a home-equity line of credit, which is a revolving line of credit secured by a mortgage, might find them difficult to come by these days. Several large banks suspended the origination of these loans last year because of the pandemic and resulting economic uncertainty.
But despite a recovering jobs market, robust housing market and a record amount of home equity available to tap—$7.3 trillion through the end of the fourth quarter of 2020, the largest amount ever recorded, according to mortgage-technology and data firm Black Knight—several banks haven't resumed originating Helocs.
3. Paxos Raises $300M, Joins Crypto Unicorn Club at $2.4B Valuation | CoinDesk
The back-end provider for PayPal and Venmo is raising “confidence capital” to expand operations, said CEO Charles Cascarilla.
Paxos has joined the crypto unicorn club with a massive funding round valuing the company at $2.4 billion.
The $300 million Series D was led by Oak, a growth capital firm focused on health care and fintech. Previous investors Declaration Partners, PayPal Ventures, Mithril Capital and others were also involved. Paxos announced a $142 million Series C in December.
The latest raise comes during a month when bitcoin (BTC, +0.85%) hit all-time highs north of $64,000 and Coinbase’s public listing put the cryptocurrency industry in the national spotlight.
4. SoFi CEO Dives Deeper Into Crypto With Bitcoin, Ethereum Rewards | Bloomberg
Social Finance Inc. is edging deeper into cryptocurrencies, allowing its customers to redeem rewards earned through the company’s app for Bitcoin or Ethereum.
Starting Thursday, clients can apply their 2% cash-back rewards on the SoFi credit card toward the two cryptocurrencies, Chief Executive Officer Anthony Noto said in a phone interview. The crypto program is among the first to be made available in the industry.
“There’s a thirst for more and more innovation that we continue to hear from our members,” Noto said. “The No. 1 thing they wanted was stocks and fractional shares. The No. 2 thing they wanted was cryptocurrency.”
5. People would trade sex for house-hunting on Zillow, survey finds | New York Post
If you’re more into “Zillow talk” than pillow talk, you’re not alone.
A new survey revealed that 49% of people would rather browse for their dream homes on the real estate site than do the dirty.
The survey, conducted by California contractor site Surety First, enlisted 1,000 participants to reveal their Zillow-scrolling habits, and nearly half were more interested in house-hunting than hanky panky.
Sex isn’t the only activity people are slacking on, either. About 58% of the participants admitted they missed an important deadline because of their Zillow browsing. Forty-one percent of respondents said their house obsession has caused multiple problems in their lives, while 56% said they’ve canceled plans with friends and would instead scroll through Zillow.
In February, “Saturday Night Live” made fun of the newfound obsession with Zillow with a skit about the joys of imaginary real estate hunting featuring “Schitt’s Creek” star Dan Levy.
6. Google to offer 40,000 developer scholarships in Africa; continues accelerator program | TechCrunch
Google today announced the launch of 40,000 new developer scholarships in Africa. Google will offer the scholarships — created in partnership with tech talent companies Pluralsight and Andela — to developers spread across mobile and cloud development tracks.
According to the statement released by the company, Google will give full scholarships (with certifications in Android and cloud development) to the top 1,000 students (beginner and intermediate developers) at the end of the training.
The announcement, which took place from a virtual event, was also detailed in the company’s blog post. The company hosted key stakeholders in Africa’s tech ecosystem and “reviewed opportunities unfolding throughout the internet economy, paying special attention to the support of developers and startups in the region.”
7. Global electric vehicles sales grew 41% in 2020 | Axios
U.S. electric car sales more than doubled in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2020, but check out the chart above — the domestic market remains small compared to Europe and China.
The big picture: Those are two takeaways from new International Energy Agency data out this morning on global electric vehicle markets.
Overall, global EV sales (including plug-in hybrids and fully electric models) grew 41% last year even as overall vehicle sales fell. But EV sales declined slightly in the U.S. last year.
8. Hospitality company Sonder going public via merger with SPC Gores Metropoulos in $2.2 billion deal | MarketWatch
Sonder Holdings Inc., a high-tech hospitality company, said Friday it is going public via a merger with special purpose acquisition corporation Gores Metropoulos II Inc. GMII, +0.05%GMIIU, +0.69%GMIIW, -1.38% in a deal with a pro forma enterprise value of $2.2 billion. The company will have $650 million in cash, while additional investors, including Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Atreides Management, LP, entities affiliated with Moore Capital Management, Principal Global Investors, LLC, and Senator Investment Group, have committed to a PIPE investment of $200 million.
9. Biden’s plan for inherited real estate may impact more people than just the wealthy | CNBC
President Joe Biden has unveiled a plan for higher taxes on inherited homes to help fund the $1.8 trillion American Families Plan.
The proposal would tax inherited property gains at death, targeting generational wealth transfers.
But financial experts say the measure may impact more families than just affluent ones.
“I think it could become a quagmire from a couple of different fronts,” said certified financial planner Ken Van Leeuwen, founder and managing director of Van Leeuwen & Company in Princeton, New Jersey.
10. Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin promise details coming next week for how to buy first seat on spaceflight | GeekWire
Step aside, Mannequin Skywalker. Blue Origin is getting ready for real humans to man its New Shepard spaceship and replace the high-tech dummy that has flown on previous test flights.
In an Instagram post on Thursday, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos again said, “It’s time,” and pointed people to the Blue Origin website where a countdown clock is running to May 5. The site encourages people to sign up “to learn how you can buy the very first seat on New Shepard.”
Bezos’ post includes highlights from New Shepard’s first uncrewed test flight back in January, in which Blue Origin’s reusable booster rocket and its crew capsule performed a successful mission in West Texas. Bezos is seen zipping across the desert in his pickup truck emblazoned with his space venture’s feather logo.