The U.S. Department of Justice ordered Louisiana-based oil company Taylor Energy to pay $432M to plug subsea oil wells, remediate contaminated soil, and decommission facilities, holding the company accountable for an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that has been ongoing since 2004. The oil company has also been ordered to pay a further $42M in civil penalties, removal costs, and natural resources damages. More: - A Taylor Energy offshore oil platform, 10 miles off the Louisiana coast, suffered damage during Hurricane Ivan in 2004, resulting in oil discharge from the facility that continues to this day.
- The U.S. Coast Guard had successfully captured the leaking oil through a containment system in 2019.
- Taylor Energy has decided to liquidate its assets to pay for the oil spill liability.
- The spill is the longest-running in U.S history.
- The energy firm had filed counter lawsuits against the U.S. challenging the decisions to install a spill containment unit and provide $353M reimbursement.
- The latest lawsuit filed against Taylor Energy in Oct. 2020 found the company guilty of charges under Oil Pollution and Clean Water Acts for discharging oil into the nation's waters.
- Taylor Energy will hand over all assets to the Department of Interior's Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management for decommissioning of the Mississippi Canyon MC-20 site, including any documents and data pertaining to the site.
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 Blackstone Products' griddles Blackstone Products, valued at $780M, will go public following a merger with Ackrell SPAC Partners I Co, a consumer products-focused SPAC. The company’s products have risen in popularity since appearing on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram. More: - The grill maker anticipates revenues to reach $450M this year and $600M in the following year.
- The company will raise $142M through private investment in public equity, consisting of $111M in convertible bonds and the rest $31M in equity investments.
Zoom out: - Blackstone joins a list of grill-making companies this year, namely Weber Inc., Traeger Inc., and Solo Brands Inc.
- 600 SPACs have helped raise over $160B this year.
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 Tencent Tencent, a Chinese gaming company, will distribute JD.com shares to stakeholders in lieu of $16.4B worth of dividends. JD.com is an e-commerce company that Tencent invested in back in 2014. More: - Stakeholders will receive one JD.com share for every 21 shares of Tencent, with the largest shareholder Prosus set to receive a majority stake.
- The two companies will continue their strategic partnership in the deal, which will reduce Tencent’s stake to 2.3% from 17% before.
- JD.com is part of Tencent’s portfolio, valued at $185B on Sept. 30, which also includes investments in Tesla, Spotify, and Snapchat.
- Walmart, which has a 9.3% stake in JD.com, is poised to become its largest shareholder following Tencent’s divestment.
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 Crocs Crocs Inc. agreed to buy Heydude for $2.5B to venture into the offbeat footwear market. Heydude, founded in 2008 in Italy, is a manufacturer of casual shoes and sandals for men, women, and children. More: - The acquisition will comprise $2.05B in cash and $450M in Crocs stock.
- Crocs will fund the acquisition with a $2B in term B loans and a $50M senior revolving credit facility.
- The footwear manufacturer expects revenues to grow 65% this year.
- After the acquisition, Heydude will operate as a self-sustaining unit but will contribute to the sales growth and earnings of the parent organization and help generate cash flow.
- Heydude is on track to generate $570M in revenue this year.
- The Italian footwear manufacturer generates 43% of sales from e-commerce channels, 5% more than the 37% contribution for Crocs.
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 Citibank in Manila, Philippines Citigroup will sell its Philippines consumer banking business arm to UnionBank for $904M as it formalizes its plans to exit 13 markets across Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The Aboitiz family, the Philippines' richest family, is the majority stakeholder in UnionBank. The transaction, expected to be completed in the second half of 2022, will increase UnionBank's presence in the retail banking sector. More: - Citibank's consumer banking operations comprise wealth management, personal loan, credit cards, and retail deposit services, offered via Citigroup's three full-service branches and five wealth management centers.
- The group's consumer banking business employs 1,750 people to serve over 1 million clients across the Philippines.
- Citi's Philippines business entails total assets worth $1.79B (89.5B pesos), deposits of $1.35B (67.8B pesos), and $1.9B (95B pesos) worth of assets under management.
- Citigroup's exit from the 13 markets is expected to be worth $7B.
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Codeacdemy will be bought by Skillsoft Corp. for $525M in a move that will see the latter synergize its efforts in the online learning sector. The acquisition will be a cash and stock transaction. More: - Codecademy recently raised $40M to expand into emerging markets like India.
- Skillsoft offers 180,000 courses, books, and videos in 29 languages.
- The Boston-based company has the U.S. Air Force, Siemens, and UPS as clients.
- Since emerging out of bankruptcy protection following a $1.5B debt writeoff in Aug. 2021, Skillsoft went public in mid-2021 through Churchill Capital Corp II SPAC.
- The Codeacademy purchase will be Skillsoft's third acquisition following its IPO.
- Skillsoft's biggest shareholder, Prosus NV, with a 38% stake, is strengthening its investments into the online education sector following the purchase of stakes in Udemy (12% stake held by Naspers Ltd., which controls Prosus), Indian ed-tech Byju's, and Stack Overflow.
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- Over 180,000 F-150 pickup trucks manufactured in 2021-2022 are being recalled by Ford over driveshaft defects which could result in loss of power or vehicle control.
- The Indian arm of Sony Pictures merged with Zee Entertainment, with the merged entity now controlling 75 channels, numerous film rights, and two streaming platforms in combined assets.
- Vingroup aims to raise $1.5B through five-year dollar-denominated bonds to help finance VinFast's EV auto unit, in which the parent group has already invested $5B. The EV automaker plans to launch three EVs at the upcoming CES electronics show and aims to list its shares in the U.S.
- Intel has issued an apology following public backlash over its instructions to suppliers to avoid procuring materials or labor from Xinjiang province in China, the area which is at the epicenter of human rights abuses of Uyghur Muslims in China.
- Sri Lanka will repay its $251M oil debt with Iran in monthly installments of $5M worth of tea exports.
- Amazon workers have refiled a union petition seeking to organize workers across four warehouses in New York City's Staten Island with the National Labor Relations Board, which said it would require support from at least 30% of workers to spur a vote. NLRB has ordered the e-Commerce company to email all employees about their right to unionize as part of a new settlement agreement following 75 charges of unfair labor practices raised against Amazon.
- Triller will go public via a reverse IPO merger with Seachange International, while the final merged entity will be renamed to TrillerVerz Corp.
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 |  | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, Formula 1 lover, and a Licensed Pilot. He is also a part-time automobile and aviation fanatic, and a full-time introvert. | | | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 Ford. | |
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