Andreessen Horowitz is investing in Flow, a residential real estate startup by WeWork co-founder and former CEO Adam Neumann. Marc Andreessen announced the investment in a blog post on Monday, noting the U.S. has a housing crisis. According to sources, Andreessen Horowitz, commonly referred to as a16z, is investing about $350M in Flow, the largest single check the VC firm has ever written. More: - The investment values Flow at over $1B.
- Flow is expected to launch in 2023, and Marc Andreessen will sit on its board.
- Flow is separate from Neumann's crypto company Flowcarbon, which raised $70M in VC funding and the sale of its carbon-backed tokens in May.
- A16z led the financing round.
- A16z's investment in Flow comes less than two weeks after The Atlantic revealed Marc Andreessen and his wife Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen wrote a letter to the Atherton, California, planning office.
- In the letter, the Andreessens stressed their opposition to a proposal to increase multifamily homes in Atherton, adding that it would decrease their home's value.
- In 2020, Marc Andreessen wrote a widely popular essay titled "It's Time to Build," where he also lamented the skyrocketing price of housing in places like San Francisco.
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Unity Software’s board unanimously voted against the $17.5B buyout offer from AppLovin Corp., saying the deal was not in the best interest of shareholders. Unity’s board on Monday urged shareholders to vote against the AppLovin deal and instead vote in favor of Unity’s proposed deal to buy ironSource for $4.4B. More: - ironSource runs a platform for publishing and scaling mobile games and other apps.
- Last month, Unity agreed to buy ironSource in a $4.4B all-stock deal, combining the two services providers for videogame and other software developers.
- Last Week, AppLovin put in an unsolicited offer to acquire Unity in an all-stock deal that valued the company at $58.85 a share.
- Under AppLovin’s proposal, Unity shareholders would control 55% of the combined company and appoint a majority of the board but only have 49% voting rights.
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China’s National Bureau of Statistics reported that July consumer data missed expectations. Retail sales grew 2.7% in July compared to last year, much lower than the 5% growth forecasted by Reuters and down from 3.1% in June. Retail sales, catering, furniture, and construction-related categories all saw declines. More: - Auto sales rose 9.7% compared to last year.
- Jewelry sales increased the most, with 22.1% growth YoY, and online sales rose 10%.
- Industrial production rose 3.8%, missing expectations of 4.6%, and down from 3.9% reported in June.
- Investments in real estate fell faster in July compared to June, and investment in manufacturing slowed.
- On Monday, China’s central bank unexpectedly cut its key interest rate for the second time this year from 2.85% to 2.75%.
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Saudi Aramco reported $48.4B in profits for Q2, nearly doubling its profit from $25.5B reported last year. The oil giant pointed to strong market conditions and being a low-cost producer with one of the lowest upstream carbon intensities in the industry. More: - Aramco’s H1 profits came in at $87.9B, more than the total H1 profits from ExxonMobil, Chevron, and BP.
- The gains are a big win for the Saudi Arabian government, which relies heavily on its Aramco dividend to fund government expenditure.
- The Kingdom reported a $21B budget surplus in Q2.
- Oil prices rose over $130 a barrel earlier this year, leading to record high inflation around the globe.
- Aramco plans to invest its production capabilities in hydrocarbons and renewables and pay down debt.
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 A message from CAPGEMINI ENGINEERING The Metaverse: A Digital Frontier. In this webinar, Capgemini Engineering and NVIDIA will discuss their partnership to build immersive experiences in the metaverse. We’ll go over an overview: - What is the metaverse? How is it built?
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- What is NVIDIA Omniverse? Demos of what Omniverse customers are doing today
Partnership discussion: - How the business models of Capgemini Engineering & NVIDIA complement each other
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- Weihan Wu, Omniverse Partner Ecosystem at NVIDIA
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Nexstar Media Group has taken a majority stake in the CW Network and plans to overhaul the network’s programming, including creating content for older audience members. Under the terms of the deal, Nexstar will take a 75% stake in the CW, and the remaining 25% will be split evenly between the previous co-owners, Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery. More: - Nexstar is the nation’s largest owner of local television stations.
- On a recent call with investors, Nexstar said it plans to invest a low-nine-figure amount into developing new programming over the next three years.
- It promised to make the CW profitable by 2025.
- The CW targets the 18 to 34 demographic; however, Nexstar plans to create content that would appeal to an older audience.
- Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed; however, the transaction is expected to close in Q3.
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Hedge Fund Third Point has taken a $1B stake in Disney and is pushing for the media company to make several changes, including spinning off its ESPN network. Earlier this year, Third Point exited its position in Disney but repurchased shares in Q2, with fund manager Daniel Loeb noting the firm’s confidence in Disney’s current trajectory. More: - Other changes Loeb is pushing for Disney include cutting costs, paying down debt, and buying back shares.
- Loeb also hopes to “refresh” Disney’s board, noting that he has identified potential directors.
- Loeb also wants Disney to move up the timetable for buying the remaining stake in Hulu from minority stakeholder Comcast Corp.
- Third Point currently owns ~0.4% of Disney.
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- Activist investor Elliott Management has taken a large position in Cardinal Health and has nominated five directors to the 11-person board of the company. Last week, Cardinal’s CEO Mike Kaufmann announced that he will leave the company at the end of the month. Kaufmann will be succeeded on Sept. 1 by CFO Jason Hollar.
- Nigeria’s inflation rate jumped in July to 19.6% compared to last year, its highest level since Sept. 2005. Inflation figures were more than double the 9% the Central Bank of Nigeria was targeting. Food prices rose 22% compared to last year.
- On Monday, the U.K. approved a dual COVID-19 vaccine that targets Omicron. It became the first country to approve a dual COVID-19 vaccine.
- Bitcoin briefly topped $25,000 on Monday morning, its highest level since June, before falling back to $24,000. It remained around $24,000 for the rest of the day.
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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 @VanessaOmeo or through email at vanessa@inside.com |  | | 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 and 1972 Fords. | |
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