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Activist Starboard takes $1B stake in Pfizer (PFE) - report. (00:23) Rio Tinto (RIO) makes takeover approach to Arcadium Lithium (ALTM). (01:25) ‘Joker’ (WBD) sequel tops box-office sales despite brutal reviews. (01:56)
This is an abridged transcript of the podcast.
Activist investor Starboard Value has taken a ~$1 billion stake in Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and is pushing the company to make changes.
Starboard has reached out to two former Pfizer (PFE) executives, Ian Read and Frank D'Amelio, to help in its campaign, and the executives have expressed interest in doing so.
According to a WSJ report on Sunday, who cited people familiar with the matter, more details of Starboard's plans and interactions with Pfizer (PFE) were not immediately known.
Read was Pfizer's (PFE) chief executive officer from 2010 to 2018 and picked Pfizer's current CEO Albert Bourla as his successor. D’Amelio was Pfizer's chief financial officer from 2007 to 2021.
Pfizer (PFE) has a market cap of $162 billion. Its shares have dropped 14% over the past year.
Pfizer (PFE) is scheduled to report Q3 results on Oct. 29.
There are nearly 30 comments on this article on Seeking Alpha, some of them saying that a billion dollars isn’t much to move the needle. You can join in on the discussion. There’s a link to the article in show notes.
Rio Tinto (NYSE:RIO) has approached lithium miner Arcadium Lithium (NYSE:ALTM) about a possible takeover.
The companies issued separate statements on the approach, but neither disclosed any further detail. Each said there was “no certainty that any transaction will be agreed to or will proceed.”
They added that no further comments would be released “unless there is news to share.”
“Arcadium Lithium remains focused on executing its strategic vision and pathway to significant growth,” its statement said.
Reuters reported Friday that the firms had been holding talks, and that Arcadium could be valued at between $4B and $6B, at least.
“Joker: Folie à Deux,” the sequel to the hit 2019 movie based on the “Batman” comics archvillain, was the top box-office draw this weekend.
The Warner Bros. Pictures’ (NASDAQ:WBD) feature grossed $40 million domestically, according to studio estimates compiled by Comscore.
Rotten Tomatoes rated the new "Joker" at only 34% positive, and audiences polled by CinemaScore gave it a "D" grade.
Expectations were high for the sequel, considering its predecessor opened to $92.2 million and broke box-office records in the United States and Canada.
Analysts cited by Variety expected the new “Joker” to rack up $50 to $65 million domestically in its opening weekend. Internationally, the movie amassed $81.1 million to debut with $121.1 million total.
In second place was “The Wild Robot,” an animated feature from Universal Pictures (NASDAQ:CMCSA), with $18.7 million in its second weekend with “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” coming in third.
More articles on Seeking Alpha:
Regeneron co-founder warns of harms from weight-loss drugs: FT
BP said to eye raising oil production as it scales back clean energy strategy
TotalEnergies to acquire 50% stake in North Sea wind projects
Catalyst watch:
The three-day Nvidia (NVDA) AI Summit will begin in Washington, DC. The company plans to hold sessions covering the role of AI with cybersecurity, edge computing, industrial digitalization, healthcare, quantum computing, and telecommunications.
The four-day Battery Show and Electric & Hybrid Vehicle Technology Expo in Detroit, Michigan will include participation from General Motors (GM), Volkswagen (OTCPK:VLKAF), and Glatfelter (GLT).
PagerDuty (PD) CEO Jennifer Tejada and Airbnb (ABNB) CFO Ellie Mertz will be two of the notable speakers at the two-day The Information WTF Summit.
Now let’s take a look at the markets as of 6 am. Ahead of the opening bell today, Dow, S&P and Nasdaq futures are in the red. Crude oil is up 2% at $75/barrel. Bitcoin is up 1.8% at $63,000.
In the world markets, the FTSE 100 is up 0.2% and the DAX is down 0.3%. Markets in mainland China remain closed for a holiday until October 8th.
On today’s economic calendar:
1:50 pm Fed's Neel Kashkari will participate in a moderated question-and-answer session before the Bank Holding Company Association Fall Seminar.
6:30 pm Fed's Alberto Musalem will speak on the U.S. economy and monetary policy and participate in a moderated conversation before the Money Marketeers of New York University.
