Hi Inside.com Community, We are extending our Republic raise timeline, and we hope readers and investors love the reason. Inside.com Founder and CEO Jason Calacanis shared full details (and a video preview of our social news site) on our Republic campaign page. These are the key details: - Our social news site’s invitation-only beta will open up on Feb. 28, 2022, with early access for all investors, Inside PRO members, and longtime readers.
- The full site launch is slated for the end of March 2022.
- If you want to get in early, we’ll share more soon — so be on the lookout.
For everyone participating in our Republic campaign, we want this extended investment period to allow our members to experience the social site before investing in Inside.com’s future. In the meantime, enjoy the preview of the new site in our video update, and we hope you will be among the first to try it out. Thanks for being readers and investors. - The Inside.com Team
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 SoftBank Earnings Presentation SoftBank and Nvidia announced they are canceling their Arm purchase agreement valued at $40B. During its earnings call on Tuesday, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son said the company would not be pursuing the sale of Arm to Nvidia due to significant regulatory challenges. SoftBank plans to file an IPO for Arm within the end of the fiscal year on March 31, 2023. The purchase agreement was initially announced in 2020; Nvidia was to buy Arm for $40B in cash and stock. More: - The deal has faced multiple challenges from other tech companies, including Microsoft and Qualcomm, who rely on Arm’s products.
- Arm designs and manufactures processors used in every smartphone, including Android and Apple devices.
- In December, the FTC sued to block Nvidia’s acquisition of Arm, citing antitrust issues.
- In November, the U.K.’s Digital and Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries called for a phase 2 probe into Nvidia’s bid for Arm, citing antitrust concerns and national security risks.
In related news: - SoftBank released its Q3 FY 2021 earnings on Tuesday, reporting a net profit of 29.05B yen (~$252.4M), a 97% drop YoY.
- Q3 revenue came in at 1.6T yen (~$13.84B), a 6% increase YoY.
- SoftBank’s Vision Funds deployed about $36.3B in 2021, more than competitors Tiger Global, Sequoia, or Insight Partners.
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 U.S. consumer debt rose to a record $15.6T in 2021. According to data from the Federal Reserve New York district, consumer debt increased $333B in Q4 compared to a year ago and saw an annual increase of $1T from 2020. Mortgages accounted for a large chunk of the increase, with an annual increase of $890 and Q4 balances rising by $258B YoY. Mortgages account for $11T of consumer debt. More: - In 2021 mortgage originations set a new record of $4.5T.
- Auto-loan balances rose to $1.46T, a 6.6% increase YoY. According to data from the Labor Department, prices for new vehicles rose 11.8% in 2021; used vehicles rose 37.3%.
- Student loans gained $20B in 2021 to $1.61T.
- Last month the Fed signaled plans to raise interest rates in March.
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 Peloton's new President and CEO Barry McCarthy | Crinkle Peloton, during a call on Tuesday morning, announced its founder and CEO John Foley will step down effective immediately and be replaced by Barry McCarthy. McCarthy has served as CFO at Spotify and Netflix with extensive experience in subscription businesses. The exercise equipment maker also announced it will cut about 2,800 jobs, including 20% of its corporate positions, citing a drop in demand and growing losses. More: - John Foley will transition to the role of executive chairman, and McCarthy will assume the role of President and CEO on Wednesday.
- The company also announced Erik Blachford will leave the board, and two new directors will be added to the board.
- Last month, activist investor Blackwells Capital asked Peloton to dismiss Foley and consider a possible sale of the company.
- Amazon was one of the few buyers mentioned.
- Peloton was founded in Jan. 2012 by Foley, and he has led it since then.
- The company went public in 2019 at $29 a share and experienced tremendous growth in 2020, fueled by the pandemic.
- Peloton hit a high of $167.42 a share in Jan. 2021 but has fallen over 80% since then.
- Peloton stock closed at $29.75 a share on Monday.
- On the news of leadership change and layoffs, Peloton shares were up ~30% by midday trading on Tuesday. The company closed at $37.27, up ~25% for the day.
In related news: - Reacting to the news on Tuesday, Blackwells asked that Foley be removed from the company entirely.
- Blackwell also released a document noting the benefits of a sale for Peloton, estimating it could value Peloton above $65 a share.
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Pfizer released its Q4 and full-year earnings on Tuesday, beating analysts’ expectations on earnings but missing on revenue. The pharmaceutical company reported Q4 revenue of $23.84B, more than double compared to a year earlier, thanks to sales of its COVID-19 vaccine. Pfizer quadrupled its Q4 net income, reporting $3.39B or $1.08 per share. Full-year revenue came in at $81.3B, a 92% increase YoY. Full-year profits came in at $22B or $4.42 per share. More: - Pfizer’s Q4 revenue was weighed down by a decrease in sales in its hospital and internal medicine segments, which reported revenue of $1.88B and $2.24B, respectively.
- Pfizer expects to sell $32B in COVID-19 shots and $22B of its COVID-19 antiviral oral medication, Paxlovid, in 2022
- Pfizer is expecting full-year 2022 sales to fall between $98B and $102B.
- CEO Albert Bourla noted the sales could be higher, but it hinges on deals still in progress.
- Pfizer shares dropped ~5% following the report before recovering a bit, closing at $51.70, down ~3% for the day.
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The Justice Department has seized over $3.6B of allegedly stolen bitcoin linked to the 2016 Bitfinex hack. A New York couple, Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan, were arrested as part of the operation. They are accused of trying to launder 119,754 bitcoins that were stolen from Bitfinex’s platform following an attack on Bitfinex’s systems. The pair also allegedly initiated over 2,000 unauthorized transactions. More: - The transactions were traced to a digital wallet belonging to Lichtenstein.
- Authorities were able to seize about 94,000 bitcoins valued at about $3.6B.
- About $4.5B in bitcoin was originally stolen from Bitfinex.
- The couple is being charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the United States, which carry a 20-year and a five-year sentence, respectively.
- The couple is due to make their first court appearance on Tuesday.
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 BP released its Q4 and full-year earnings on Tuesday, beating expectations on revenue and profits thanks to record-high oil prices. The oil company reported a Q4 profit of $4.07B or $1.23 per share. Full-year profits came in at $12.8B or $3.82 per share, up from a loss of $5.7B in 2020. More: - BP reduced its net debt from $38.9B at the end of 2020 to $30.6B by the end of 2021.
- BP plans to repurchase $1.5B of its shares in 2022.
- CEO Bernard Looney said the company plans to invest over 40% of its capital over the new few years to transition to clean energy.
- BP shares fell ~3% in mid-morning trading. It closed at $32.81 down less than 2% for the day.
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- Cryptocurrency companies will be advertising for the first time during a Super Bowl game this Sunday. A 30-second ad spot in this year's Super Bowl is $7M, up from $5.6M in 2021. Three crypto exchanges will have ads during Super Bowl LVI – Coinbase, FTX, and Crypto.com.
- African startups raised a record $4.3B to $5B in venture capital in 2021.
- Meta says it might have to pull its products, including Facebook and Instagram, from Europe if it cannot transfer the user data back to the U.S. In 2020 a European Court overruled a U.S.-E.U. Privacy Shield agreement.
- TikTok announced updates to its Community Guidelines and made updates to the types of behavior and content it removes from its platform.
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 |  | Vanessa Omeokachie is a Researcher at Inside. Her interests include finance, tech, and startups. In her free time, she enjoys reading, hiking, attending music festivals, and traveling. Connect with her on Twitter @Ms_Omeo. |  | | 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. | |
Interested in crowdfunding for your next fundraise? Start here. | |
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