fortune--2020-09-28--Trump paid no federal income taxes in 10 of past 15 years, New York Times reports

President Donald Trump paid just $750 in federal income taxes the year he ran for president and in his first year in the White House, according to a report Sunday in The New York Times.
Trump, who has fiercely guarded his tax filings and is the only president in modern times not to make them public, paid no federal income taxes in 10 of the past 15 years.
The details of the tax filings complicate Trump’s description of himself as a shrewd and patriotic businessman, revealing instead a series of financial losses and income from abroad that could come into conflict with his responsibilities as president. The president’s financial disclosures indicated he earned at least $434.9 million in 2018, but the tax filings reported a $47.4 million loss.
The tax filings also illustrate how a reputed billionaire could pay little to nothing in taxes, while someone in the middle class could pay substantially more than him. Nearly half of Americans pay no income taxes, primarily because of how their low incomes are. But IRS figures indicate that the average tax filer paid roughly $12,200 in 2017, about 16 times more than what the president paid.
The disclosure, which the Times said comes from tax return data it obtained extending over two decades, comes at a pivotal moment ahead of the first presidential debate Tuesday and weeks before a divisive election against Democrat Joe Biden.
Speaking at a news conference Sunday at the White House, Trump dismissed the report as “fake news” and maintained he has paid taxes, though he gave no specifics. He also vowed that information about his taxes “will all be revealed,” but he offered no timeline for the disclosure and made similar promises during the 2016 campaign on which he never followed through.
In fact, the president has fielded court challenges against those seeking access to his returns, including the U.S. House, which is suing for access to Trump’s tax returns as part of congressional oversight.
During his first two years as president, Trump received $73 million from foreign operations, which in addition to his golf properties in Scotland and Ireland included $3 million from the Philippines, $2.3 million from India and $1 million from Turkey, among other nations. The president in 2017 paid $145,400 in taxes in India and $156,824 in the Philippines, compared to just $750 in U.S. income taxes. The Times said the tax records did not reveal any unreported connections to Russia.
Trump found multiple ways to reduce his tax bills. He has taken tax deductions on personal expenses such as housing, aircraft and $70,000 to style his hair while he filmed “The Apprentice.” Losses in the property businesses solely owned and managed by Trump appear to have offset income from his stake in “The Apprentice” and other entities with multiple owners.
During the first two years of his presidency, Trump relied on business tax credits to reduce his tax obligations. The Times said $9.7 million worth of business investment credits that were submitted after Trump requested an extension to file his taxes allowed him to reduce his income and pay just $750 each in 2016 and 2017.
Income tax payments help finance the military and domestic programs.
Trump, starting in 2010, claimed and received an income tax refund that totaled $72.9 million, which the Times said was at the core of an ongoing audit by the IRS. The Times said a ruling against Trump could cost him $100 million or more. He also has more than $300 million in loans due to be repaid in the next four years.
Richard Neal, D-Mass., the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee who has tried unsuccessfully to obtain Trump’s tax records, said the Times report makes it even more essential for his committee to get the documents.
“It appears that the President has gamed the tax code to his advantage and used legal fights to delay or avoid paying what he owes,” Neal wrote in a statement. “Now, Donald Trump is the boss of the agency he considers an adversary. It is essential that the IRS’s presidential audit program remain free of interference.”
A lawyer for the Trump Organization, Alan Garten, and a spokesperson for the Trump Organization did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press on the report.
Garten told the Times that “most, if not all, of the facts appear to be inaccurate.”
He said in a statement to the news organization that the president “has paid tens of millions of dollars in personal taxes to the federal government, including paying millions in personal taxes since announcing his candidacy in 2015.”
The New York Times said it declined to provide Garten with the tax filings in order to protect its sources, but it said its sources had legal access to the records.
During his first general election debate against Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016, Clinton said that perhaps Trump wasn’t releasing his tax returns because he had paid nothing in federal taxes.
Trump interrupted her to say, “That makes me smart.”


fortune--2020-09-28--TikTok will not be banned at midnight, judge rules

Donald Trump is a master of hypnotism .
How he used the power on America—and then himself

President Donald Trump’s ban on TikTok was temporarily blocked by a federal judge, dealing a blow to the government in its showdown with the popular Chinese-owned app it says threatens national security.
U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols granted a preliminary injunction against the ban on the widely used video-sharing network after an unusual Sunday morning hearing. The judge refused to grant an injunction against a November deadline for a sale. TikTok’s owner, ByteDance Ltd., had requested the hold after the president ordered TikTok out of American app stores unless the company sold a stake in its U.S. operations to a domestic buyer.
The ban, scheduled to go into effect at 11:59 p.m. in New York, would have removed TikTok from the app stores run by Apple Inc. and Google’s Android, the most widely used marketplaces for downloadable apps. People who don’t yet have the app wouldn’t be able to get it, and those who already have it wouldn’t have access to updates needed to ensure its safe and smooth operation. TikTok is used regularly by 19 million Americans. TikTok has been downloaded by more than 100 million Americans.
ByteDance is fighting the Trump administration in court even as it pursues its approval for the sale of a stake in the U.S. business to Oracle Corp. and Walmart Inc. Trump has called for bans on both TikTok and WeChat, owned by China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd., arguing that the apps could give China’s government access to millions of Americans’ personal data. The bans are part of an increasingly hard line he has taken on Beijing as the election approaches.
Even as the sale of TikTok is still awaiting final U.S. approvals, two of China’s most prominent state-backed media mouthpieces last week denounced the deal.
“What the United States has done to TikTok is almost the same as a gangster forcing an unreasonable and unfair business deal on a legitimate company,” the state-run China Daily wrote in a Wednesday opinion piece. Hu Xijin, the influential editor-in-chief of the Party-run Global Times, tweeted that Beijing likely wouldn’t approve the current agreement as it endangered China’s national security.
A lawyer for TikTok told the judge at Sunday’s virtual hearing that the ban was irrational given that ByteDance is in talks to strike a deal the president himself has demanded.
“How does it make sense to impose this app-store ban tonight when there are negotiations underway that might make it unnecessary?” attorney John Hall asked.
Hall said banning TikTok from U.S. app stores would undermine security by preventing existing users from receiving weekly security updates. He argued that the government has less burdensome alternatives, such as the stake sale, to achieve its national-security aims. ByteDance says Trump is exceeding his authority with the ban.
“The consequences immediately are grave,” Hall told the judge. “It would be no different than the government locking the doors to a public forum, roping off that town square.”
His language echoed the ruling of a judge in California who put a hold on Trump’s WeChat ban last week, citing its effect on free speech and the irreparable harm that the ban would cause to the business.
Daniel Schwei, a lawyer for the Justice Department, countered that “the concern here is about data security risk and leaving data vulnerable to the Chinese government. It is a threat today, it is a risk today, and therefore it deserves to be addressed today.” The U.S. government decided last week to extend its deadline to allow for more sale discussions.
In a filing on Friday, the U.S. cited FBI Director Christopher Wray’s assessment that China poses the “greatest long-term threat to our nation’s information and intellectual property.”
TikTok is “challenging a national security determination by the president as well as the judgment of the secretary of commerce about what’s necessary to mitigate those national security harms,” Schwei told the judge. “And I think the court owes significant deference to that.”
In a separate case, a federal judge in Pennsylvania on Saturday rejected a request by TikTok users to halt the ban, saying the consequences of the ban wouldn’t be severe enough for the users to justify an injunction temporarily blocking the order while the litigation continues.


fortune--2020-09-29--Tesla is trying to mine its own lithium

Tesla is trying to mine its own lithium

Magic Leap tried to create an alternate reality .
Its founder was already in one

Tesla secured its own lithium mining rights in Nevada after dropping a plan to buy a company there, according to people familiar with the matter.
The automaker held discussions in recent months with Cypress Development Corp., which is seeking to extract lithium from clay deposits in southwest Nevada, but the parties didn’t reach a deal, the people said, asking not to be named because the information isn’t public. The electric car maker, which has vowed to slash its battery costs by 50%, instead focused on the plan that Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk outlined last week to dig for lithium on its own in the state.
Producing lithium from clay has so far proven difficult and costly. No company has been able to produce commercial quantities using the practice. But a push into mining is at the center of Tesla’s plan to cut battery costs and deliver on a promise to bring a $25,000 electric car to market. Musk told investors last week that Tesla has secured access to 10,000 acres of lithium-rich clay deposits in Nevada and planned to use a new, “very sustainable way” of extracting the metal.
Tesla didn’t respond to emails requesting comment. Cypress declined to comment on any talks with the automaker.
The carmaker’s decision to make its own battery cells, and to enter production of battery cathodes and associated raw materials, is intended to add in-house capacity alongside deals with external suppliers as demand for electric vehicles rises. The company this month struck a five-year raw materials pact with Piedmont Lithium Ltd., which has a project in North Carolina.
See also: Piedmont Says Signed Five-Year Lithium Supply Pact With Tesla
Obtaining lithium from clay deposits has typically been considered too difficult and expensive, due to low recovery rates, according to BloombergNEF analyst Sharon Mustri. BNEF projects about 5% of global supply of mined lithium may come from unconventional resources, mostly clay, by 2030.
Lithium raw materials are most commonly extracted at brine operations which pump liquid from underground reservoirs into vast evaporation ponds, or in traditional hard rock mines. “This move by Tesla supports the importance of clays as a future source of lithium in the United States,” Cypress CEO Bill Willoughby said in an emailed statement, referring to Tesla’s plan to extract lithium from clay.
Musk said Tesla is focusing on development of a process to extract the metal using sodium chloride, or table salt, instead of more expensive chemical reagents. No other mine uses this process to date, according to Mustri.
Flagging plans to use a technology that isn’t yet proven at scale has drawn skepticism from some analysts. “Lithium has never been produced from clay in commercial quantities,” said Chris Berry, president of House Mountain Partners, an industry consultancy.


fortune--2020-09-28--House Democrats are working on another stimulus package. What we know so far

On Monday we learned what House Democrats plan to include in their new $2.2 trillion stimulus bill.
This bill is scaled back from the $3 trillion Democrat-proposed HEROS Act, which passed in the House back in May but died without a vote in the Republican controlled Senate.
If this new bill passes the House, it’s unlikely to clear the Senate—where Republicans are still opposed to going above $1.3 trillion in the next stimulus package. However, it does give us an indication of Democrats’ priorities as they restart their negotiations with Republicans.
This House bill is expected to include a second round of $1,200 stimulus payments, an extension of enhanced of unemployment benefits, more. forgivable Paycheck Protection Program loans to small businesses, aid for state and local governments, and funding for hospitals and vaccines.
The House bill would extend $600 weekly enhanced benefits to unemployed Americans through January. That benefit expired in late July, and was replaced by a $300 weekly payment issued by the White House—which will expire at the end of the month.
Democratic officials have suggested a vote could come as early as this week, however, the full details of the bill have yet to be released.
As the House moves forward with this bill, Democratic and Republican leaders are restarting their stimulus negotiations. Over the weekend House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke with the White House, however, they did not announce any new progress. When talks fell apart last month Democrats were offering $2.2 trillion in economic aid, while the White House offered $1.3 trillion


fortune--2020-09-28--Dow jumps 400 points to start the week, with banks and energy stocks leading the way

It may not be a September to remember, but markets attempted to staunch the bleeding Monday, as the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all posted strong gains to start the week.
The Dow closed up 1.51% at 27,584.06, the S&P 500 was up 1.61% to 3351 and the Nasdaq gained 1.87% to close at 11117.53. Bank stocks had a banner day, with JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley all rose more than 2%. Energy stocks were also up, a sign that investors were feeling more comfortable moving into cyclical sectors which have remained beaten down in recent months.
Though markets also rallied Friday, that came on the heels of four straight weeks of losses, making September live up to its reputation as a rough month for investors.
So what drove Monday’s gains? Investors are still desperately hoping for another stimulus deal, and there appear to at least be signs that both parties will be reopening negotiations this week. When talks broke down earlier this summer, Democratic and Republican leaders were still $900 billion apart when it came to the size of the overall package.
But with Trump’s $300 weekly benefits expiring, there is new pressure for both sides to reach a deal. Last week Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell both told Congress during a hearing that they believed more stimulus was necessary to help the economy recover. According to CNBC, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich) asked point blank: “Yes or no, do you believe another stimulus check could help stabilize the economy?” “I do,” Mnuchin said. “The administration does support another stimulus payment.”
In a note Monday, Charlie Ripley, Senior Investment Strategist for Allianz Investment Management wrote that, “The strong fiscal support that helped the economy quickly get back on its feet looks to be wearing out. From an economic standpoint, third quarter GDP will likely be the highest growth rate on record, but not enough for annualized GDP to be positive for the year.” He pointed to slowing retail sales data for July, a drop in consumer confidence as measured by the Conference Board, a spike in virus cases and the elevated unemployment rate and stalemate on Capitol Hill as cautionary signs for the overall economy.
As for tech stocks, Jeff Buchbinder, Equity Strategist for LPL Financial noted that with the S&P’s Technology Sector Index having pulled back 13% from September 2-25, this could be a buying opportunity. “Pullbacks in uptrends have historically represented opportunities, and this may be the case with the technology sector. Technology has represented the most consistent area of relative strength for the S&P 500, not just year to date, but for the past decade, and the recent decline does little to change that long-term picture,” Buchbinder wrote.


fortune--2020-09-28--The world is obsessed with new COVID drugs. But other important treatments are in the works, too

The race for coronavirus treatments and vaccines rages on. But while COVID 19 has understandably been at the forefront of the medical community’s—and public’s—mind, this pandemic hasn’t just erased the need for therapies which can treat diseases ranging from neuromuscular disorders to pathologies like Alzheimer’s and dementia which have no effective approved treatments.
The world’s focus has been on the virus. But drug makers continue to work on various other therapies in a challenging environment.
For instance: Prior to the COVID crisis, one of the most ballyhooed treatments in the biopharma space was aducanumab, the experimental Alzheimer’s treatment from drug giant Biogen which could potentially become the first approved therapy for Alzheimer’s—a treatment that doesn’t just treat symptoms, but the underlying disease (although it comes with its fair share of controversies).
Those controversies share similarities with concerns around a rush to get a COVID vaccine across the regulatory finish line. Since Biogen’s drug would be the first of its kind (as would any coronavirus treatment), the FDA decided in August 2020 to put it on a fast track designation, meaning that the regulatory review process could be slashed by four months—and that was after the company initially decided the treatment probably wouldn’t work out before reversing course in a stunner in 2019.
“It was a gradual understanding,” Biogen’s chief medical officer Alfred Sandrock told Fortune late last year after deciding to submit the drug for regulatory approval.
The FDA fast track puts aducanumab on path to potential approval by March 2021. And that’s at the latest. It could well receive a decision ahead of that time.
Aducanumab works by targeting so-called amyloid plaques, which are proteins that build up in the brain and are common among dementia patients. This particular theory of treating Alzheimer’s or dementia hasn’t been proven to date—but Biogen is hoping to break the mold. The drug’s purpose isn’t so much to reverse the disease as to slow its progression, although that would in and of itself represent progress.
On top of that, the FDA’s advisory committee calendar—the schedule for what are essentially hearings on drugs’ safety and efficacy following clinical trials and debated by experts—includes other treatments such as an Alkermes drug for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, as well as meetings in October to assess medical devices that can treat heart disorders.


fortune--2020-09-28--Are you ready for a stakeholder-driven world?

A new study from sustainability consultants KKS Advisors and The Test of Corporate Purpose (TCP), a new initiative to examine the efficacy of corporate “commitments” on social inequity, have issued an early report card on the state of stakeholder capitalism. It purports to be the first serious examination of the real world impacts of the still nascent movement to align profit to purpose, as described by the revised corporate “mission statement” announced by The Business Roundtable in 2019.
Let’s just call the grade an “incomplete.”
“Since the pandemic’s inception,” the study says, the new orientation “has failed to deliver fundamental shifts in corporate purpose in a moment of grave crisis when enlightened purpose should be paramount.”
This is a moment worth marking, as companies begin to do the necessary work to dismantle the report/reward infrastructure of decades of shareholder focus. As software company CEO and gender economist Katica Roy said recently in Fortune, it’s time for traditional financial reporting to pass the baton. “If we are serious about digging ourselves out of today’s economic turmoil and creating economic prosperity for all, then we must overhaul our current revenue-and-profits-based performance indicators used to evaluate the success of a corporation,” she says. “To recalibrate our economy, we need to implement a new set of key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure and track organizational success.”
Luckily for the world, Roy is not an outlier.
The World Economic Forum, working with the Big Four accounting firms, recently published a new report that seeks to standardize stakeholder capitalism reporting on environment, social, and governance goals. Measuring Stakeholder Capitalism: Towards Common Metrics and Consistent Reporting of Sustainable Value Creation is worth your time and an excellent primer in the new language of stakeholder value measurement.
It will be up to all of us to figure out where it may or may not fall short.
To that end, I’ve been trying to get smarter about stakeholder issues. As you may know, stakeholder capitalism is a key pillar of our new Fortune Connect community for mid-career, world-changing professionals. Best of all, in my quest to get more fluent, I’m making lots of interesting new friends to share with all of you.
I’ve scheduled two public conversations that might help us all get smarter together, so please join me if you can:
On October 2, 2020 at noon ET, I’ll be joining a LinkedIn Live conversation with Professor Alvin Tillery Director, Center for the Study of Diversity and Democracy, at Northwestern University. Together we will explore one of the most pressing aspects of stakeholder thinking: Diversity, equity, and inclusion in business. Expect the nuts and bolts of culture change and deep anti-racism work. Professor Tillery will be one of the founding academic researchers presenting on the Connect platform, so consider this a preview of more to come. Register here.
On October 13, 2020 at noon ET, I’ll be in conversation with Michelle Edkins, managing director of investment stewardship at BlackRock. She was part of the team that helped formulate BlackRock CEO Larry Fink’s now legendary letter on corporate purpose in 2018: “Without a sense of purpose, no company, either public or private, can achieve its full potential. It will ultimately lose the license to operate from key stakeholders.” Resilience Re-Imagined: Stakeholder Relevance in a Purpose-Led World, is being produced by the Shared Value Initiative (who coincidentally partner with Fortune for our Change the World Lists.) Register here.
Ellen McGirt
@ellmcgirt
Ellen.McGirt@fortune.com
On point
While we’re doing a collective deep dive into what the new reporting on President Trump’s taxes, it might be worth remembering what an unfair tax system means for lots of other people.
Black families pay more in property taxes than white families in similar homes Some 13% more, according to a large-scale analysis of tax records published this summer. The still new working paper by economists Troup Howard of the University of Utah and Carlos Avenancio-León of Indiana University find that Black-owned homes are consistently assessed at higher values relative to their actual sale price, and in almost every state.
Washington Post
IRS: Wealthy people’s tax returns are too complicated to audit, so we just don’t The IRS audits the working poor at rate similar to their wealthier counterparts—who could make a bigger financial contribution to their communities if assessed correctly—primarily because the agency doesn’t have the person-power and expertise to do a good job on very complex returns.
ProPublica
A crackdown on the “worst of the worst tax scams” hasn’t yielded much either, also according to ProPublica.
Oh! And lots of white supremacist groups are tax exempt
Sigh.
raceAhead is edited by Aric Jenkins.
Today's mood board


fortune--2020-09-28--Former Amazon manager and her family charged with insider trading

A senior manager in Amazon’s tax department ran an insider trading scheme in which she, along with her husband and father-in-law, made $1.4 million buying and selling stocks and options ahead of the company’s earnings announcements.
The Securities and Exchange Commission shared details of the scheme on Monday in a press release describing the misconduct of 36-year-old Laksha Bohra and her family. The Bohras do not dispute the accusations, and are also facing criminal charges from the U.S. Justice Department.
The SEC’s legal complaint describes how the family used 11 separate stock-trading accounts in what Bohra’s father-in-law described as a “family thing” to buy and sell stock on behalf of different relatives.
Bohra gained access to Amazon’s confidential information in her role overseeing financial data related to the company’s “transfer pricing” operations across different countries. Despite repeated reminders from Amazon that it was illegal for someone in her position to buy and sell company stock, Bohra engaged in a flurry of phone calls and text messages to tip her family off about upcoming earnings announcements.
The family used the insider information to buy Amazon shares at favorable times, but also to sell put and call options.
The reminders about insider trading issued by Amazon included a video sent to the company’s entire finance division. The video went out after the SEC charged another Amazon employee in 2017 with leaking sensitive information a fraternity brother so the pair could make an illegal profit.
Under the terms of the SEC settlement, the Bohra family will pay back approximately $1.5 million in illegal profit, and pay additional penalties of $1,106,399.
Amazon terminated Bohra in 2018 for reasons unspecified in the complaint. The company declined to comment on the SEC announcement.
More must-read finance coverage from Fortune:


fortune--2020-09-28--The IRS is adding a cryptocurrency question to Form 1040 for 2020

Many Bitcoin owners have adopted a “Play dumb and hope for the best” strategy when it comes to taxes. But now that strategy—never a great idea at the best of times—is riskier than ever in light of a proposed change to next year’s tax forms.
The Internal Revenue Service revealed the change in a preview of the Form 1040 that every American uses to file his or her federal income tax. Now, right at the top of the form, below the address line, is a new yes or no question that asks if the filer has acquired an interest in virtual currency:
The proposed IRS change comes as the agency continues to ramp up scrutiny of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. In some cases, the focus of the IRS has been criminal activity involving digital currency, while in others the agency has sought to identify those who fail to report profits from trading.
While millions of Americans own cryptocurrency accounts, a relatively small portion of them have reported income from them. In a lawsuit with cryptocurrency giant Coinbase, for instance, the IRS testified that only 807 individuals reported Bitcoin-related transactions in 2015.
In the past three years, Coinbase and other exchanges have provided more tax reporting tools, but the number of filers remains relatively small. The owner of a firm specializing in crypto taxes told the Wall Street Journal that he estimates fewer than 150,000 crypto owners filed returns last year.
According to the Journal, which first reported the new IRS form, the change to the 1040 amounts to laying “a trap” for those who would feign ignorance of the reporting requirements—and is similar to the approach the agency took to forcing Americans to disclose overseas income.
The aggressive new tactic by the IRS is likely to irk many in the cryptocurrency industry given that current tax rules consider any sale or purchase involving crypto—such as buying a cup of coffee with Bitcoin—to be a taxable event. The industry has lobbied for an exemption for transactions under $200, but the agency has said any such changes to its rules must come from an act of Congress. And while the industry has been increasing its influence in Washington, D.C., it still faces hostility from lawmakers and from the White House.
Barring any changes, the virtual currency question will appear on next year’s next forms. In 2019, the IRS did include a cryptocurrency question, but only on a form for additional income known as Schedule 1 that many Americans don’t use.
More must-read finance coverage from Fortune:


fortune--2020-09-28--Biden leads in 7 states Trump won in 2016, poll shows

Democratic nominee Joe Biden is heading into the first presidential debate on Tuesday leading President Donald Trump in seven states the Republican won four years ago.
If Biden were to win every state carried by Hillary Clinton along with the seven battleground states in which he’s currently leading Trump (Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin), he would walk away with at least a 347 electoral votes. A win requires only 270 electoral votes.
And Biden is tied with Trump in Iowa, and lagging by 1 percentage point in Georgia—a state Democrats haven’t carried since the 1992 general election—according to RealClearPolitics poll averages.
Heading into Election Day in 2016, Clinton led in Trump in Pennsylvania (+1.9 percentage points), Michigan (+3.4 points), and Wisconsin (+6.5 points). Trump won all three.
For Trump to win in 2020, he’d likely need to win at least five of the states in which Biden currently leads: Arizona (+3.4 points), Florida (+1.3 points), Pennsylvania (+4.7 points), North Carolina (+0.8 points), and Ohio (+3.3 points). If he wins those, Trump can likely afford to lose battleground states like Michigan (+5.2 points) and Wisconsin (+7 points) where Biden is currently leading.
Simply put: If Trump doesn’t gain significant ground in the remaining six weeks before Election Day (Nov. 3), he’ll be faced with pulling off a bigger upset than four years ago.
The silver lining for Trump? Like Clinton four years ago, Biden hasn’t topped 50% in most battleground state poll averages. He’s over 50% only in Maine (53.8%), Minnesota (50.4%), and Wisconsin (50.7%). That means there are enough undecided or third-party party voters in most battleground states to potentially swing those states to Trump.
As of Monday, FiveThirtyEight forecast the odds of Biden winning at 78%, while The Economist forecast the Democratic nominee having a 85% chance of winning the electoral college.


fortune--2020-09-28--eBay’s pathetic, power-hungry pranksters

To better understand why so many people mistrust business, read David Streitfeld’s masterly explication in The New York Times of the federal case against several eBay employees for viciously, if incompetently, harassing and intimidating two benign critics.
The story is lurid and pathetic. The then-CEO of eBay, Devin Wenig, didn’t like the reports in a husband-and-wife newsletter aimed at people who sell wares on eBay. Wenig sent texts documenting his ire to his head of communications (“Take her down”), who egged on the company’s head of security (“I want to see ashes”), a drunk-on-power operative charged with cooking up sophomoric stunts to frighten the couple (“I’ve been ordered to find and destroy”).
While the head of security was arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit cyberstalking, neither Wenig nor his communications deputy have been accused of any crime. Wenig did resign from eBay before the case became public but after internal investigators learned about it. He didn’t cite the scandal when he quit.
eBay always cultivated an image of cuddliness. Beanie Babies, after all, were one of the original hits on the site. Yet behind the we’re-just-here-to-help-folks-realize-their-dreams facade, I’d say the Silicon Valley company always has been a den of buttoned-up MBAs trying to optimize its e-commerce engine.
That never necessarily made eBay rotten. And it doesn’t mean all businesses are bad. But it is a reminder that tremendous power and wealth accrue to the caretakers of giant shareholder-owned corporations, and like anyone else, these people can be preposterously thin-skinned, causing them to make poor decisions.
***
Fortune releases its first Impact 20 today, a list of startups that help to mitigate some of the world’s problems. (Because, you know, business can be a force for good.) It’s an early-stage version of our annual Change the World List.
I asked Matt Heimer, the Fortune editor who oversaw the package, to tell me a bit about the technology angle. Here’s what he wrote:
“A theme I like involves using technology to overcome economic barriers. Bajillion-dollar drug companies can’t figure out how to get medicine to African villages? Zipline does it with drones. America can’t or won’t train or pay enough school guidance counselors or tutors to help minority and other non-traditional college kids? Upswing steps up to provide the service online. Social and cultural practices keep female health-care providers from being able to see patients in person? doctHERs reaches almost two million patients through telemedicine. You could argue that this is what startups do best: Find little inefficiencies and throw themselves into resolving, filling, and fixing them.”
Thanks, Matt, for shining a light on these efforts.
***
Finally, check out Maria Aspan’s important story about how two companies, startup Electric and software stalwart Red Hat, are helping their employees deal with grief, an unexpectedly prominent aspect of the 2020 business landscape.
Adam Lashinsky
@adamlashinsky
adam.lashinsky@fortune.com
This edition of Data Sheet was curated by Robert Hackett.
NEWSWORTHY
Nervous tics. A U.S. judge blocked a Commerce Department-ordered ban on new TikTok app downloads that was set to go into effect at 11:59PM ET on Sunday. District Judge Carl Nichols's opinion is sealed and being reviewed by the two sides’ attorneys; they are set to meet by September 30th to discuss next steps. Separately, a Pennsylvania judge tossed a request by three of the app's users to delay the since-delayed TikTok ban. Judge Wendy Beetlestone said the plaintiffs failed to prove they would suffer "immediate, irreparable harm" from the action.
I'm going to need those TPS reports. If you're worried you soon won't be able to get your short-form video fix, fear not: Microsoft's LinkedIn has you covered. The workplace networking site rolled out a redesign that includes its own version of ephemeral video "stories." Maybe this is Microsoft's way of shaking a spiteful fist at Oracle and Walmart after losing out on that pending TikTok acquisition. In another corner of the company, Microsoft's new Xbox Series X gaming console is garnering favorable early reviews.
It's prime time. Amazon says its Prime Day sales bonanza will take place over two days, October 13th and 14th, this year. Industry watchers expect the invented shopping holiday to help the company clock record earnings for the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, Amazon is expanding its footprint in Canada, where it plans to hire thousands of people into new roles in Vancouver and Toronto.
A bourse is a bourse, of course, of course. Japanese semiconductor maker Kioxia Holdings has called off a planned initial public offering on the Tokyo Stock Exchange after saying U.S. sanctions on Chinese telecom giant Huawei, a major customer, have hit its bottom line hard. The IPO, which was slated to value the company at $16 billion and would have been one of the biggest of the year, has been postponed indefinitely. Meanwhile, Beijing-based Sina, maker of the popular Chinese media site Weibo, has agreed to be taken private in a deal that values the firm at $2.6 billion.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
As Adam highlights above, eBay represents one corporate culture that went flagrantly awry. Another is Magic Leap, a once-hyped augmented reality startup that is struggling to recover from mismanagement failures. Aaron mentioned a post-mortem of the aspirations of ex-CEO Rony Abovitz just before the weekend, but I am re-shining a spotlight on it here; it's a story of starry-eyed ambition brought crashing back down to Earth.
Okay, really I just think you should watch Abovitz's utterly zany TEDx talk from 2012. It features Richard Strauss's Also sprach Zarathustra, gamboling monsters, and space fudge. There is no better way to start your Monday.
Like many investors, this one had initially been won over by a dazzling demo, only to watch things go wrong, not just technically but culturally. For those on the inside, Abovitz’s vision had become a sort of blindfold to common business sense. “Everyone was so bought in, they’d drunk the Kool-Aid together. Nobody stopped to say, ‘This product sucks,’” the investor said. “The first time I put on the real one, it was just like, ‘Oh shit. You guys did not deliver on your promise.’”
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
The U.S. just undercut China’s best shot at semiconductor independence by Eamon Barrett
Uber shares soar as London court gives license go-ahead by David Meyer
Fans of K-Pop’s BTS are mobilizing on a new platform: the stock market by Grady McGregor
Investors look to buck a four-week losing streak, sending global stocks higher by Bernhard Warner
Airline executives say there’s less than 1% risk of catching COVID-19 on a flight—and some pandemic-era changes are here to stay by Nikki Ekstein
Big Tech is suffering from ‘mean reversion.’ And the downdraft isn’t over yet by Shawn Tully
(Some of these stories require a subscription to access. Thank you for supporting our journalism.)
BEFORE YOU GO
Sometimes you've gotta treat yo' self. Rachel Schallom, Fortune's deputy digital editor, is on a quest to make work-from-home life more comfortable. Here are some of her latest recommended purchases: Apple's AirPods Pro, an adjustable office chair, and ultra-cozy PJs.
Together, we can redefine WFH as work-for-hygge.
Robert Hackett
@rhhackett
robert.hackett@fortune.com


fortune--2020-09-28--Donald Trump missed $114 million in gains by selling stock under pressure

On Sunday, the New York Times published extensive reporting based on a trove of Donald Trump’s tax records. They show aggressive tax avoidance, with Trump’s claimed losses on failed ventures almost entirely wiping out his income tax liabilities for more than a decade.
They also reveal what turned out to be an extremely costly investment strategy. According to the tax documents seen by the Times, Trump sold a huge amount of stock between 2014 and 2016: $98 million worth in 2014, $54 million in 2015, and $68.2 million in 2016. According to public financial disclosures, Trump now owns as little as $873,000 in securities.
In other words, Trump effectively took his chips off the table starting in 2014, and never bought back in. Based on other elements of the Times’ analysis, it seems probable Trump made these sales because he needed cash, in part to finance the huge debt that still hangs over his head, which the Times calculates at $421 million.
The bad news is that with these sales, Trump missed out on a historic bull market: From the end of December 2014 to the end of December 2019, the S&P 500 index gained over 56%. So every time Trump over the past three years took credit for the rising stock market as evidence of his great performance as President, it must have been somewhat bittersweet: He was barely personally benefiting from the run-up at all.
Based on what we know, Fortune estimates Trump would be $114 million richer today if he hadn’t sold his equities—a sum that would certainly be useful in paying off his debts.
That estimate is based on a number of assumptions and proxies. We don’t know what stocks Trump sold or held. We don’t know when precisely he sold any particular part of his portfolio. And we can’t guess exactly when or if he would have eventually sold his assets if he hadn’t cashed out in 2014–2016.
But it’s a safe bet that holdings of that size would be diversified with a wide variety of high-quality equities. And active managers over the past decade haven’t done any better than the overall market. So we take the S&P 500 as a rough proxy for the performance of Trump’s former portfolio.
Meanwhile, we’ll assume the end of each year as the benchmark date for his big stock sales, and the end of 2019 as the benchmark date for Trump’s potential gains. The market has now roughly returned to its December 2019 levels, and Trump understood the serious dangers of the coronavirus well before he discussed them publicly. So a December 2019 benchmark equally represents him unloading his equities before the market crash in March (as some legislators were accused of) or holding on for a recovery.
Using those assumptions, the $98 million in equities Trump sold in 2014 would have been worth $152.9 million by December 2019.
The $54 million worth of stock Trump sold in 2015 would have been worth $85.3 million by December 2019. (He actually would have been better off selling these assets in 2014: 2015 was a rough year for equities).
The $68.2 million in holdings Trump sold in 2016 would have been worth $96.2 million by December 2019.
All told, then, selling into a bull market cost Donald Trump $54.9 million on the 2014 tranche, $31.3 million on the 2015 tranche, and $28 million on the 2016 tranche, for a grand total of $114.2 million in missed gains.
There is one final unknown here, of course, which is Trump’s cost basis for his sales. That is, we don’t know when he bought the stocks that he sold in 2014–2016, or how much he paid. He may have realized huge gains with the 2014–2016 sales if, for instance, he loaded up on stocks just after the Great Recession. From 2009 to 2014, the S&P gained a staggering 84.6%. Gains on stock bought in 2007 and sold starting in 2014 would have been on the order of 46%.
So while his premature sales add to a larger pattern of financial ineptitude, Trump likely still benefited bigly from the stock market.


fortune--2020-09-28--BP is laying out its vision for a low-carbon future. Investors are skeptical

BP has begun sketching out the details of how it will transition from one of the world’s legacy oil and gas companies to a low-carbon giant. Now it needs to get investors to buy in.
Judging by the share price, it’s not going well.
In afternoon trading, the British energy major on Monday was up 1.16% in London. That’s just above a 25-year-low, and the stock is down more than 50% since the start of the year.
The company’s main competitors—European energy majors like Royal Dutch Shell, Norway’s Equinor, and France’s Total—are all facing hits to their stock this year, as the pandemic battered energy demand and sent oil prices, at times, into free fall. Those three are also in the midst of laying out their strategies for hitting net-zero emissions by 2050, a transformational reimagining of what a legacy oil and gas company can be. It’s one that so far has been largely limited to European companies. American giants like Exxon Mobil mostly are committing to doubling down on traditional oil and gas.
Speaking to Fortune in June, BP CEO Bernard Looney spoke to the scale of the shift, noting that “trillions of dollars will be spent rewiring and replumbing the world’s energy system,” he said.
“That presents an enormous opportunity for a company of our skills.”
It’s a huge challenge too.
In announcing the company’s 2050 target shortly after becoming CEO, Looney claimed that a company that has built its legacy on fossil fuels can fundamentally transform in a matter of years, rapidly divesting oil assets, while acquiring and developing infrastructure-heavy renewable projects—all while making investors money.
The company said that it expects to provide 8% to 10% returns for investors—lower than for big-ticket oil projects, but still a hefty promise. While the industry’s pledges have been cheered by many, the lack of specifics have also produced valid, wary skepticism.
Memories of “beyond petroleum”
When Looney announced his commitment to the net-zero target, many longtime energy investors could be forgiven for wincing. After all, the company has been here before. In the late 1990s, the company underwent a high-profile rebranding to “beyond petroleum” and committed to renewable projects. Whether ill-judged or simply ahead of its time, the transition was a resounding flop. Much of the investments acquired during the company’s renewable spending spree was quietly disposed of within years.
Then there are the current trials. In the summer, Looney pitched a “leaner” BP while announcing about $18 billion in write-downs, cutting 10,000 jobs, and halving the company’s dividend. While pitched as part of the transition, the great slim-down was viewed as much through the lens of crashing oil prices as it was a company in the midst of a major overhaul.
That all fed into the skepticism that greeted BP as it laid out the details of its transition in September, in a series of daylong presentations.
“We believe BP’s starting point for its ‘reinvention’ remains disadvantaged,” said Bank of America analysts in a note. They pointed to an “overstretched” balance sheet, with a debt load about 10% higher than its European peers, and a smaller existing low-carbon project base than those same companies, particularly Total, going into its transformation.
Though the target is for 2050, the company will also have to move very quickly. By 2030, BP plans to cut its oil and gas production by 40% and expand its renewables capacity to 50GW by 2030—up from just 2.5GW in 2019—much of that initially coming from a solar power development project.
There’s also the question of what will pay for the transition. There, analysts flagged concerns, pointing out that BP still remains dependent on short-term oil prices—not good with the Brent crude contract currently at around $42/barrel, down more than 35% from the start of the year—to fund its operations. That will also come up against what is a mounting cash crunch: Divesting fossil fuel assets is now occurring in a buyers’ market, BofA analysts pointed out.
Finally, BP now finds itself in a market that may be as competitive as any in the oil and gas world; renewable projects ready to come online in the short term are in high demand. In that race, even a minor head start could provide a serious financial advantage.
BP is up against not just its legacy competitors but also local utilities and first-movers like Spain’s Iberdrola and Denmark’s Ørsted—formerly the country’s national oil and gas company—which have been building up their renewable portfolios for years, particularly in offshore wind power.
BP may have a vision. But investors are now waiting to see whether, in the race to decarbonize, it can truly set itself apart.


fortune--2020-09-28--Amazon Prime Day set to span two days in October as dress rehearsal for holiday season

Amazon on Monday morning confirmed that its annual Prime Day shopping bacchanal will take place on Oct. 13 and 14 in what will be a major test of its ability to handle the surge in spending ahead of a holiday shopping season that will start earlier than ever.
For the second straight year, Amazon’s Prime Day sales event will last two days. But this year, Amazon is taking on brick-and-mortar rivals that are more formidable than last year’s—notably Walmart, Target, and Best Buy—which have deftly made use of their networks of stores and strong websites to win shoppers over. Target, for instance, saw its online sales nearly quadruple last quarter and also announced on Monday that it, too, is holding a two-day event on Oct. 13 and 14.
Yet for all their prowess, those retailers remain far behind Amazon; the online retailer took in nearly $90 billion in revenue in the second quarter. Last year, Prime Day generated at least $7 billion in sales over two days, according to some estimates—levels worthy of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Prime Day, a shopping holiday invented in 2015 with no link to any larger social occasion, typically takes place in summer at a slow time for shopping. But it was delayed this year given the surge in online shopping that has strained Amazon’s supply chain.
The event aims to help Amazon reach a more important goal: getting people to sign up for Prime, its 150 million-member service that offers unlimited faster shipping for an annual fee and entertainment like music and movies, thus making Amazon the default e-commerce site for consumers. That’s all the more crucial at a time when Walmart has launched its own program.
As Amazon looks to maintain its dominance over rivals, Prime Day will serve as a “test run” to manage yet another surge in demand ahead of an unprecedented holiday season, Wall Street firm Cowen wrote in a research note. The company has hired 100,000 more workers this year to help it manage the higher sales volume during the holidays.
Further out, Bloomberg this month reported Amazon was planning to build at least 1,000 smaller distribution hubs to counter Walmart’s edge with its thousands of stores. Prime, which costs $119 a year, gives shoppers access to free shipping on many items, entertainment, and deals at Whole Foods Market. In the spring, Amazon struggled to meet its shipping deadlines, something it hopes to avoid during the holidays by working out any kinks during Prime Day.
For now, it will allow Amazon to get a jump on holiday season shopping, something that both industry analysts and the CEOs of rivals like Target and Kohl’s agree will start much earlier in 2020 than in previous years.


fortune--2020-09-28--Nearly 100,000 establishments that temporarily shut down due to the pandemic are now out of business

The spring shutdowns delivered a gut punch to owners of businesses from salons and daycare centers to tattoo parlors.
At the onset of the pandemic 140,104 were marked temporarily closed on Yelp.com, but by August that had fallen to 65,769. That drop, however, is not entirely driven by businesses reopening; instead, many have simply gone under. More than 97,966 businesses have permanently shut down during the pandemic, according to Yelp.com’s Local Economic Impact Report.
And it may only get worse.
While many parts of the economy have begun to hum again, many small businesses are still struggling and report needing further economic aid and stimulus to survive.
In fact, “if economic trends continue at this rate, one in five business owners anticipates they won’t make it until the end of the year,” Kevin Kuhlman, the vice president of federal government relations for the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), a nonprofit small-business advocacy group, recently told Fortune.
But not all small businesses have been equally affected. According to a Federal Reserve Bank of New York report in August, the number of active Black small-business owners fell 41% from February through April (nearly twice the rate of non-Black-owned businesses), as many struggled to access programs like the Paycheck Protection Program.
More aid, however, is still up in the air. Although Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin has said that passing a standalone PPP bill would be the “easiest” way to get additional help to small businesses (as there is over $130 billion in unused funds), Congress has thus far stalled on passing another package.
Meanwhile, the forgiveness portion for businesses who received loans through the PPP is coming due, although many banks still want more clarity on the process, while advocacy groups have asked smaller loans be forgiven altogether.


fortune--2020-09-28--Clean tech is getting a fresh slate in 2020

This is the web version of Term Sheet, a daily newsletter on the biggest deals and dealmakers. Sign up to get it delivered free to your inbox.
Happy Monday, readers.
A few weeks back, Fortune asked for submissions to the Impact 20, a list of startups that are trying to make money while addressing social issues.
And, well, Term Sheet readers were very, very responsive to the call. Here’s the list.
What’s notable: Many startups are focusing on environmental sustainability. About 40% of the 20 startups on the list address the issue—whether it be through food waste (TreeDots), recycling (AMP Robotics), or energy consumption (Dandelion Energy).
The numbers capture a shift in momentum for so-called “clean tech.” It’s a storied part of venture-investing lore at this point: Startups seeking to disrupt the energy sector boomed in the mid-2000s—but cheap natural gas prices, a financial crisis, and high capital costs resulted in a massive bust. An MIT Energy Initiative working paper estimates that VCs plowed some $25 billion into the sector between 2006 and 2011…and lost over half of their money. The sector became nigh untouchable.
Today investors are seeing promise in the space—and not just a small glimmer of it. A study by PricewaterhouseCoopers reports that in 2019 alone, venture capitalists plowed $16 billion into “climate tech” deals, helping create some 43 unicorns. Well-regarded firms such as Sequoia Capital have called for pitches recently in the sector.While the sector has changed since 2008, with successful companies like Tesla having created space for an ecosystem to grow, it will still face challenges. For green tech companies focused solely on attacking traditional energy (and many of them are), they are competing with oil prices—which have recently taken a dive in the pandemic.
Lucinda Shen
Twitter: @shenlucinda
Email: lucinda.shen@fortune.com
VENTURE DEALS
- Xingyun Group, a Shenzhen-based supply chain provider for imported goods from foreign countries, raised $200 million in a Series C funding. Taikang Insurance Group, Highlight Capital, and Shanghai United Media Group’s joint fund Zhongyuan Capital invested. Read more.
- InventisBio, a Shanghai-based a clinical-stage biotech developing small molecule drugs, raised $147 million in Series D funding Hillhouse affiliate GL Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Qiming Venture Partners, Janchor, AIHC Capital, Matrix Partner China, Dyee Capital, and E Fund Capital.
- Biocytogen, a Chinese clinical-stage biotech, raised $142 million in Series D1 funding. CMB International led the round and was joined by investors including PICC Capital, SDIC Ventures, China Life Equity, 3E Bioventures, Cowin Capital, and Baifu Capital.
- Star Charge, a Chinese electric vehicle charging company, raised 125 million. Investors included Schneider Electric and CICC Capital’s sub fund. Read more
- Allbirds, a San Francisco-based sustainable footwear maker, raised $100 million in a Series E funding. Franklin Templeton led the round that values Allbirds at $1.7 billion. Read more.
- ShipBob, a Chicago-based e-commerce and fulfillment company, raised $68 million in Series D financing. SoftBank Vision Fund 2 led the round and was joined by investors including Menlo Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, Hyde Park Venture Partners, Hyde Park Angels and Y Combinator.
- Fiture, a Beijing-based maker of smart fitness mirror, raised $65 million in Series A funding. Tencent led the round and was joined by investors including Bertelsmann, C Ventures, Cathay Capital, and Sequoia Capital China. Read more.
- Galecto, a Boston and Copenhagen-based biotech developing treatments for fibrosis and cancer, raised $64 million. Soleus Capital and Eir Ventures led the round and were joined by Cormorant Asset Management, Janus Henderson Investors, Hadean Ventures, Sphera, Asymmetry Capital Management, Canica, as well as current investors.
- Nutcracker Therapeutics, an Emeryville, Ca.-based developer of mRNA therapies, raised $60 million in Series B funding. Arch Venture Partners led the round and was joined by investors including Bluebird Ventures.
- Mosa Meat, a Netherlands-based food technology company, raised $55 million in its first close of its Series B funding round. Blue Horizon Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Bell Food Group and M Ventures.
- Humane, a San Francisco-based company computing company, raised $30 million in Series A funding. Sam Altman and Lachy Groom led the round and were joined by Marc Benioff, Valia Ventures, Plexo Capital, Kindred Ventures and others.
- Palladio Biosciences, a Horsham, Pa.-based firm developing medicines for kidney diseases, raised $20 million in Series B funding. Investors included Roche Venture Fund and Medicxi.
- Showmac Tech, a Beijing-based provider of SIMs for Xiaomi devices, raised $15 million in Series A funding. Addor Capital led and was joined by investors including GGV Capital and Hongtai Aplus. Read more.
- Noyo, a San Francisco, Calif.-based API platform for health insurance data exchanges, raised $12.5 million in Series A funding. Costanoa Ventures and Spark Capital led the round and were joined by Homebrew, Fika Ventures, Precursor Ventures, Core Innovation Capital, Garuda Ventures and Webb Investment Network.
- Acin, a London-based data standards firm digitizing operational and non-financial risk, raised $12 million in Series A funding. Notion Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Fitch Ventures.
- Snappr, a New York-based photography service, raised $10 million in Series A funding. Basis Set Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including YesVC and Y Combinator.
- OneDome, a U.K.-based platform for buying property, getting mortgages, and handling the legalities, raised £5 million in a Series A funding. Investors include Lord Jacob Rothschild, Reuben Brothers Capital, and Winslow Capital founder Clark Winslow.
- Attunely, a Seattle-based platform payments collection, raised $6 million in Series A funding. Investors included Framework Venture Partners, Anthos Capital, and Vulcan Capital. Read more.
PRIVATE EQUITY
- Apollo and Caesars Entertainment approached William Hill (LON: WMH), a U.K.-based casino operator. Financial terms weren't disclosed. Read more.
- BioDuro, backed by Advent, merged with Sundia, a Shanghai-based life sciences contract research and manufacturing organization. Bridgewest Capital invested. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Ivanti, backed by affiliates of Clearlake Capital Group, agreed to acquire MobileIron, a provider of endpoint management solutions, for $872 million. Ivanti also agreed to acquire Pulse Secure provider of secure access and mobile security solution, from Siris Capital Group. Financial terms of the latter deal weren't disclosed.
- Lightyear Capital invested in and formed ProfitSolv, a provider of integrated billing and software. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Trilantic North America made a minority investment in Rarebreed Veterinary Partners, a Portland, Maine-based veterinary services platform. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
OTHERS
- Kioxia Holdings Corp, the second-largest maker of flash memory chips in the world, shelved plans for a $3.2 billion IPO in Japan. Read more.
- Cleveland-Cliffs agreed to acquire ArcelorMittal S.A. (NYSE: MT), a steel producer, for approximately $1.4 billion.
EXITS
- Wondery, a California-based podcast maker, is exploring strategic options including a saale. Backers include Greycroft and Lerer Hippeau, according to Pitchbook. Read more.
Breakups and bankruptcies
- Neiman Marcus emerged from bankruptcy with new investors: Pacific Investment Management Co., Davidson Kempner Capital Management and Sixth Street Partners. Previous investors included Ares Management and CPPIB. Read more.
- Sycamore Partners made a preliminary bid to acquire assets Ascena Retail Group Inc, the bankrupt company behind Ann Taylor brand. Financial terms weren't disclosed. Read more.
IPOs
- Poshmark, a Redwood City, Calif.-based maker of an online marketplace for pre-owned luxury goods, filed confidentially for an IPO. Investors include Temasek, Mayfield Fund, and GGV Capital.
- Kaspi.kz, a Kazakh lender, Goldman Sachs backs the firm, revived plans for an IPO in London. Read more.
- Eargo, a San Jose, Calif.-based hearing-aid maker, filed for a $100 million IPO. The firm posted revenue of $32.7 million and loss of $44.5 million in 2019. New Enterprise Associates, Future Fund, Gilde Healthcare, and Longitude Venture back the firm. Read more.
- Aligos Therapeutics, a South San Francisco-based clinical-stage maker of therapies for viral and liver diseases, filed to raise $100 million. Backers include Roche, Versant Ventures, and Baker Bros. Advisers. Read more.
- Praxis Precision Medicines, a Cambridge, Mass.-based clinical-stage biotech developing therapies for central nervous system disorders, filed to raise $100 million. Blackstone, Novo Holdings, and Vida Ventures back the firm. Read more.
- Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, a clinical-stage biotech developing therapies for ophthalmic conditions, filed to raise $86 million. Vivo Capital and Frazier Life Sciences backs the firm. Read more.
SPACS
- Hims, a California-based telemedicine company, is nearing a deal to go public via merger with Oaktree Acquisition Corp., a SPAC. The deal could value the firm at $1.6 billion. Read more.
- Altitude Acquisition, an Atlanta-based blank check company seeking a target in the a travel or travel-related industry, filed to raise $300 million. Gavin Isaacs (director at DraftKings), Thomas Breitling (co-founder of Travelscape.com) and Gary Teplis (Teplis Travel) founded the firm. Read more.
- Supernova Partners Acquisition, a Washington D.C.-based blank check company, plans to raise $300 million. Spencer Rascoff (former Zillow CEO), Alexander Klabin (co-founder of Senator Investment Group), Robert Reid (former senior managing director at Blackstone’s PE Group) and Michael Clifton (formerly The Carlyle Group) formed the company. Read more.
- Tekkorp Digital Acquisition, a blank check company targeting the digital media and leisure industries, plans to raise $300 million. Tekkorp Capital formed the company. Read more.
- Spring Valley Acquisition, a Dallas-based blank check company targeting the sustainability industry, plans to raise $250 million. Pearl Energy Investment Management formed the company. Read more.
- 10X Capital Venture Acquisition, a blank check company seeking a tech-enabled business, plans to raise $220 million. 10X Capital formed the business. Read more.
- Genesis Park Acquisition, a Houston-based a blank check company seeking a target in aviation, seeks to raise $200 million. Genesis Park backs the firm. Read more.
F+FS
- 776, a fund founded by Alexis Ohanian, is targeting $150 million for a pre-seed fund. Read more.
PEOPLE
- Defy named Bob Rosin as a partner. Rosin was formerly head of partnerships at Stripe.


fortune--2020-09-28--Why Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court

This is the web version of The Broadsheet, a daily newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women. Sign up to get it delivered free to your inbox.
Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Dr. Jill Biden says her husband is ready for the first presidential debate, we get ready for the Fortune MPW Summit with a special opening guest, and President Trump nominates Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. Have a meaningful Monday.
– ACB. By now, you’ve surely heard that President Trump has made official his pick for the Supreme Court: Amy Coney Barrett, a judge who serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in Chicago.
The judge was seen as a frontrunner over the past week, giving those who support her—and those who oppose her—time to prepare for this moment. Now, Coney Barrett’s official nomination has started several lines of debate, from the argument that Trump shouldn’t fill the seat so close to an election, to concern over Coney Barrett’s short three years of experience on the bench and her conservative views, to GOP pushback that such criticism is either anti-Catholic or anti-working mothers.
The situation—so soon after the death of a Justice who was so important to so many—is a lot to take in. So, for a brief primer on a few cases that explain Coney Barrett’s views on abortion, sexual assault, and gun rights in further depth, you can read a story I wrote here. For more on her record, try this NYT explainer.
Debate over the nominee—who some Republicans have already tried to dub the “Notorious ACB“—will surely rage until the Senate makes its decision. In one example of that debate, the NYT‘s Ross Douthat argued in a controversial column that Coney Barrett—as a mother of seven serving on the nation’s highest court—could represent a new kind of “conservative feminism.” Feminists were quick to reply that Coney Barrett’s legal rulings and stated beliefs make clear that she is not aligned with the goals of the feminist movement as they know it.
In this op-ed, Planned Parenthood president Alexis McGill Johnson draws a different contrast between the feminist achievements of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and how Coney Barrett could shape the court. The nominee, like most women today, “owes her career—as a woman in law school, a law professor able to teach while pregnant and a mother, and a judge on the federal bench—to Justice Ginsburg’s hard work.”
On a related note, the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit will kick off on Tuesday, featuring three days of programming with the most fascinating executives across corporate America and beyond. We’ll close out the program on Thursday with a tribute to RBG, featuring panelists who knew the justice—including Anita Hill and NPR’s Nina Totenberg—reflecting on her legacy.
And, in a bit of exciting news (!), we’ll open the Summit main stage Tuesday at 1:15 p.m. ET with a special conversation with Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex. Fortune‘s Ellen McGirt will discuss with the Duchess the issue of humane tech and how we can build healthy communities online. (This announcement is a Broadsheet exclusive—we haven’t even updated the agenda yet!) The Summit won’t be available to live stream for those who aren’t attending, but we will bring you coverage in the Broadsheet throughout the week.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- Trump taxes. In a blockbuster report on President Trump's taxes, the NYT finds that the Trump Organization paid Ivanka Trump "consulting fees" while she was also an employee of the business. Those fees helped reduce the Trumps' tax bill. "Over the past decade, President Trump has paid tens of millions of dollars in personal taxes to the federal government," Trump Org lawyer Alan Garten said in a statement. New York Times
- Up for debate. In a CNN interview yesterday, Dr. Jill Biden said that her husband, Joe Biden, is "ready" to face President Trump in the first presidential debate of the general election this week. And to a question about the former vice president's tendency to make "the occasional gaffe," Biden said: "You can’t even go there. After Donald Trump you cannot even say the word gaffe." CNN
- Settle for more. Google parent company Alphabet settled a shareholder lawsuit accusing the company of mishandling sexual misconduct allegations against its executives. As part of the deal, Alphabet will commit $310 million to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives—and prevent execs from receiving severance while they are under internal investigation. Fortune
- Second time's the charm. Poshmark, the clothing resale platform cofounded by Tracy Sun, has filed for an initial public offering after delaying an IPO in 2019. Share price for the company, whose board of directors includes Serena Williams, has not yet been set. Bloomberg
MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Getaround CFO Laura Onopchenko joins the board of directors at fuboTV.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
- Big mistake, huge. Activist Erin Brokovich spoke to Fortune's Nicole Goodkind about her new book Superman's Not Coming: Our National Water Crisis and What We the People Can Do About It, the water safety crisis in Flint, Michigan, and why she thinks the federal government fails to solve these problems. Fortune
- Tech support. Sophie Schmidt is the founder of Rest of World, a journalism startup that intends to cover technology in countries that don't get much tech news coverage. She's also the 33-year-old daughter of former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Schmidt calls this approach to global technology her "life's project." Wall Street Journal
- Safe skies. The National In-Flight Sexual Misconduct Task Force, created by 2018 law, was scheduled to discuss the findings of its report on sexual harassment and assault on airlines last week with Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao. Flights attendants and others involved in this movement reflect on the need for action: Marie Claire
ON MY RADAR
The hell that is remote learning, explained in a comic Vox
Magic Leap tried to create an alternate reality. Its founder was already in one Fortune
Grace Lynne Haynes is the 27-year-old painter behind your favorite New Yorker covers Elle
PARTING WORDS
"This is a moment where employers need to double down on paying attention."
-Time's Up CEO Tina Tchen on the risk that companies will lose progress made on addressing and preventing sexual harassment because of the pandemic


fortune--2020-09-28--Fans of K-pop’s BTS are mobilizing on a new platform: The stock market

After disrupting a Trump rally, raising millions of dollars for Black Lives Matter, and drawing the ire of the Chilean government, Korean pop music (K-pop) fans appear to be deploying their organizing and fundraising powers in the stock market.
On Monday, Big Hit Entertainment, the management label behind the K-pop supergroup BTS, said in a regulatory filing that its October IPO will be priced at the top end of its set range. The offering will be priced at 135,000 South Korean won ($115), which is the upper limit of the 105,000 won ($89) to 135,000 won ($115) price range the company proposed earlier this month.
Big Hit will be offering roughly 7.1 million new shares in the highly anticipated debut, which Big Hit says may raise the company as much as $820 million. Big Hit’s IPO is set to be South Korea’s largest stock offering in the past three years, and it may help continue a hot streak for entertainment firms debuting on South Korea’s exchange.
In early September, shares for computer game publisher Kakao Games surged to 30% higher than its initial offering price after it started trading, though its shares have since dropped.
The news about Big Hit Entertainment’s offering price appeared to encourage investors on Monday, as stocks for listed South Korean record labels and entertainment companies made strong gains. Record label YG Entertainment’s stock rose 11.98%, while the JYP Entertainment label jumped 9.94%, and entertainment company SM Entertainment clicked up 6.69%.
Big Hit Entertainment’s expected success reflects the growing global reach of BTS and South Korean pop music, but for many retail investors getting a piece of the action isn’t just about betting on its corporate performance.
Members of the ARMY, the self-ascribed title for BTS fans, told Reuters last week that buying stock in Big Hit Entertainment was a sign of their devotion to the group.
“I don’t know about stock valuations,” Kim Seo-hyeon told Reuters. The 12-year-old BTS fan in Seoul had asked her parents to buy Big Hit Entertainment stock. “I know my oppas [BTS band members] are rich but I hope me buying shares make them even richer, so that they can buy something nice to wear, that would make me happy.”
One fan even said that he would be taking out a personal loan in order to bid for stock in the company.
Upon Big Hit Entertainment’s October debut, the ARMY seems poised to move markets.


fortune--2020-09-29--The pandemic’s ‘new poor:’ Poverty in parts of Asia could rise for the first time in 20 years

The biggest takeaway from the New York Times tax exposé ?
Trump is a lousy businessman .

The coronavirus pandemic could push 38 million people into poverty across East Asia and the Pacific as the region’s collective economy grows at its slowest pace in 50 years, according to the World Bank.
“COVID-19 is not only hitting the poor the hardest, it is creating ‘new poor.’ The region is confronted with an unprecedented set of challenges, and governments are facing tough choices,” said Victoria Kwakwa, vice president for East Asia and the Pacific at the World Bank.
According to the World Bank’s most recent report on the region’s economy, published Tuesday, China can expect to see positive economic growth this year—with GDP rising 2%. The country has managed to largely contain the COVID-19 outbreak and has restarted its economic engines by reopening factories and funneling government funding into infrastructure.
Other countries across East Asia haven’t endured the pandemic so well, particularly those where tourism is a key growth engine. The World Bank predicts the region (excluding China) will see GDP contract, on average, 3.5% this year, putting millions of people in poverty.
Prior to the pandemic, 33 million people across the region were expected to escape poverty this year, with “poverty” defined as an average income of $5.50 per day. The coronavirus has eliminated those potential gains and threatens to put an additional 5 million people below the threshold, marking the first time in 20 years that poverty in the region has grown.
Total poverty in China is expected to decline this year, albeit by less than the World Bank had predicted before the pandemic began. In 2015, China President Xi Jinping set the ambitious target of eliminating “extreme poverty” in China by 2020, with extreme poverty defined as subsisting on less than $1.10 per day.
Under pressure from the pandemic, Xi has pushed the deadline for his campaign to July next year—the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party—but critics question the campaign’s total efficacy.
In some of China’s regions, poverty alleviation schemes have reportedly led to forced labor. In other towns, local governments have relocated poor residents to new buildings in higher-income areas but have provided few measures to ensure the people can earn a higher income.
The long-term impacts of the pandemic could mean those who fall into poverty this year remain there for a long time too. The World Bank warns “sickness, food insecurity, job losses, and school closures [will lead] to the erosion of human capital and earning losses that last a lifetime.”
According to Aaditya Mattoo, chief economist for East Asia and the Pacific at the World Bank, economies in East Asia and the Pacific should focus on “safe schooling to preserve human capital; widening narrow tax bases to avoid cuts in public investment; and reform of protected service sectors to take advantage of emerging digital opportunities.”
That’s advice developed economies could follow too.


fortune--2020-09-29--Why an Olympic gold medalist and former NFL player cofounded a subscription coffee brand

This is an installment of Startup Year One, a special series of interviews with startup founders about the major lessons they have learned in the immediate aftermath of their businesses’ first year of operation.
Coffee has always been at the heart of Shawn Johnson East and Andrew East’s relationship. When Shawn was on the Olympic circuit, she says coffee was an easy cure for her homesick blues. And when she and Andrew began dating, the now-married couple says many of the most memorable conversations early on in their relationship happened over coffee. (He even told her he wanted to marry her over a coffee date.)
The husband and wife team just cofounded UniQorn Coffee, a subscription-based coffee brand, in June, and recently spoke with Fortune about how the first few months are going and what the pair plans to do next.
The following interview has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.
Andrew East and Shawn Johnson East, cofounders of UniQorn Coffee. Courtesy of UniQorn
Fortune: It almost goes without saying (especially as someone in the media) that coffee is a ubiquitous product, from the home to the office and everywhere in between. But it’s not the most obvious choice for entrepreneurs looking to launch their own product. What inspired the launch of UniQorn Coffee?
Shawn: Andrew and I absolutely love coffee. It’s been the one consistent thing in our ever-changing lives the past 15 years—different career paths, living in different states, going through different stages of our relationship.
All that is to say coffee means so much to us. It’s really helped us slow down and connect. With UniQorn, we want to help cultivate the same kind of magical moments we’ve experienced over coffee in other people’s lives.
And what kind of personal spin do you bring to your brand of coffee?
Shawn: We took all that we’ve learned about coffee over the years and designed our absolute favorite roasts. UniQorn Coffee is one of the rarest, purest, cleanest forms of coffee you can buy. It’s sourced from some of the world’s highest-quality farms and sun-dried and roasted to perfection.
Andrew: Another unique aspect is that UniQorn is a monthly coffee subscription. You take a quiz that pairs you with your perfect brew and recommends how much coffee you should order based on your coffee preferences. It’s totally customizable—you can adjust, change, or cancel your subscription at any time.
Shawn: It starts with the coffee, of course, but it’s more than that. We do monthly coffee video chats and send weekly emails full of jokes, fun facts, and challenges to encourage community and conversation, too.
Former NFL player Andrew East and Olympian Shawn Johnson East recently launched UniQorn Coffee, a subscription-based coffee company. Courtesy of UniQorn Coffee
Where are the beans sourced?
Andrew: We’re proud to work with some of the highest-quality farmers and importers around the world. All of our beans are specialty-grade arabica coffee, grown in the tropics, in rain forests, and on mountains. These specific climates and geographic locations come together to create truly unique-tasting beans.
We prioritize fair trade, organic, and Rainforest Alliance Certified coffees. We’re passionate about partnering with farmers to improve the lives of the communities where our coffee comes from. In addition, we purchase most of our coffee directly from farmers and co-ops.
What kind of workforce do you have?
Shawn: We work with a small but mighty group of amazing [employees]. Everyone on our team has a passion for coffee and making meaningful connections with people. We aren’t just in the business of coffee—we want to encourage people to embrace their own uniqueness and live an extraordinary life. And as our team grows, so will our mission.
What were some of the biggest hurdles you faced in launching the business? What surprised you the most?
Andrew: We sold out fast. Inventory management has been surprisingly challenging. We had a decent idea of how much coffee we would sell based on our previous campaigns in a similar niche, but because UniQorn is fresh and roasted to order, trying to find that sweet spot of keeping enough in stock—but not so much that it’s sitting on a shelf—has been a learning curve. We’ve been lucky. As far as challenges go, I guess these are good ones to have. We’re just grateful everyone loves this coffee as much as we do.
UniQorn’s East Side Sunrise blend: “We often travel to New York for holidays and events,” Shawn says. “And its electric energy always leaves us feeling recharged and reenergized. In the city that never sleeps, you’ll most likely find us with a cup of coffee in our hands.” Courtesy of UniQorn Coffee
What kind of feedback have you received from your customers? Is there anywhere you’ve needed to make adjustments quickly?
Shawn: The feedback has been really positive. It’s fun because we’re a brand that, for the most part, gives people their first experience with specialty-grade coffee. So for people to truly taste the difference in quality is something we’re really excited about. It’s fun to hear how much they love it.
Given the pandemic and economic crisis, how does the current business and public health environment affect the future of the business, from product development to raising capital?
Andrew: We’re lucky to be an e-commerce, direct-to-consumer company. But our timelines have definitely slowed. Almost every aspect of our product—from sourcing and packaging to storing and shipping—has changed. But the health and safety of everyone along our production line is one of our top priorities, so we’re taking those measures and precautions and scaling everything accordingly.
Shawn: We realize people’s daily lives and work schedules are adjusting as more people work from home, so we’re happy to provide people with a new, at-home coffee routine to lighten up their day and encourage connection in a new way.
Looking down the road five years or so, what do you want UniQorn Coffee to look like? Where do you hope it will be?
Andrew: We’re excited to expand our product offerings with different and seasonal roasts. We’re focused on our online business for now, but we’re excited to expand into retail when the time’s right, too.
And finally, I can’t not ask: How do you take your coffee?
Shawn: I’m an oat milk cappuccino girl, and Andrew loves an iced almond milk latte. We try to limit ourselves to two cups a day, but we usually fail.


fortune--2020-09-29--Everything you need to know about the first Trump vs. Biden presidential debate

Here we go: After all the accusations and attack ads, President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden face off Tuesday night in the first of three debates leading up to the Nov. 3 presidential election.
The debate arrives after a news-packed weekend that saw President Trump nominate Amy Coney Barrett to succeed the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court—a nomination that comes less than 40 days before the election itself, and which has stirred a contentious debate in its own right. Meanwhile, Trump again finds himself on the defensive after the New York Times on Sunday dropped a bombshell report on the President’s income taxes, a topic long shrouded in mystery.
But that only scratches the surface as far as the issues at hand in this unprecedented election year, many of which will be delved into at length on Tuesday night. Here’s what you need to know about Trump versus Biden, Round 1:
When and where is the first presidential debate?
The first debate will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 29, at the Health Education Campus shared by Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland. The event is scheduled to start at 9 p.m. ET and conclude at 10:30 p.m.
It is the first of three scheduled debates between the two presidential candidates, who are slated to meet again in Miami on Oct. 15 and in Nashville on Oct. 22. The two vice presidential nominees, Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), will debate in Salt Lake City on Oct. 7.
How can I watch the presidential debate?
The debate will be aired on all of the major television networks (ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC), as well as the major cable news channels (CNN, Fox News, MSNBC) and C-SPAN. Many news outlets are also live-streaming the debate on YouTube, while those who prefer radio can listen in on NPR and other radio outlets.
What topics will be discussed in the debate?
The debate’s moderator, Chris Wallace of Fox News, has chosen six topics to build Tuesday’s debate around, with 15 minutes of debate dedicated to each topic. In order, the topics are:
The Trump and Biden records
The Supreme Court
COVID-19
The economy
Race and violence in our cities
The integrity of the election
While the second topic, the Supreme Court, is hotly anticipated given its political immediacy, the COVID-19 pandemic is the most pressing issue for many. Meanwhile, the state of the economy—which has proven inextricably linked to the pandemic—is historically perhaps the most important issue to American voters, and remains so this year.
The fifth topic has drawn scrutiny from some observers, given how its wording seems to lend itself more to the views of the President and many of his supporters, rather than the issues of racial inequality and police violence that Biden and his backers have spoken out against.
And the sixth and final topic is an exceptionally fraught one in 2020, given how President Trump has raised unsubstantiated doubts about the integrity of mail-in voting and the electoral process at large, and has refused to commit to accepting the results of the election and transfer power to Biden if necessary.
How will the COVID-19 pandemic affect the debate?
Besides playing a central part in the evening’s discourse, the coronavirus pandemic means things will look a little different than usual in Cleveland on Tuesday night.
While the debate will still take place before a live audience, there will be a significantly smaller crowd than usual, according to organizers, and those in attendance will have to submit to COVID-19 testing and other health protocols.
Social distancing protocols will also apply to the debate’s participants. While Trump, Biden, or Wallace are not expected to wear face masks, there will be no handshakes between Trump and Biden—though, given how there’s no love lost between the two men, it’s worth wondering whether there would have been one anyway.


fortune--2020-09-29--China’s most popular holiday travel destination is in Wuhan, the one-time COVID epicenter

China’s October National Day holiday will mark the country’s largest movement of people since before the pandemic, providing a chance for China to definitively show that life is back to normal in the country where COVID-19 first emerged.
Over the eight-day “Golden Week” holiday starting Oct. 1, Chinese travelers are expected to make 600 million domestic trips within China, according to a new report from Chinese online travel operator Trip.com. “The demand on tourism that was suppressed for nine months will probably be released in these eight days,” Trip.com said in a statement to Fortune.
The holiday is still expected to fall short of the 782 million trips Chinese travelers completed during the same holiday last year. But given China’s relative containment of COVID-19, authorities are confident that the tourism industry is poised to continue its rebound.
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“We are relatively optimistic about the tourism economy in the latter half of 2020,” said China Tourism Academy in a recent report.
So where are these tourists going?
Notably, the historic Yellow Crane Tower in Wuhan, the city where COVID-19 first broke out, ranked No. 1 on Trip.com’s list of most sought-after tourist sites for the October holiday, followed by Shanghai’s Disneyland, and Xi’an’s Terracotta Warriors.
Travel demand for Wuhan underscores Chinese tourists’ confidence in their country’s handling of the pandemic and bodes well for China’s battered domestic travel industry. At the same time, the Chinese government is warning its citizens about the coronavirus risks of international trips, meaning Chinese tourists may continue to put off overseas travel, even as reopened countries try to woo them.
Lockdowns to Golden Week
Lockdown restrictions during February, March, and April brought travel within China to a halt, inflicting a hefty toll on the country’s domestic travel industry.
In total, China’s tourism revenue is expected to drop 52% in 2020 compared with 2019, and the number of individual trips is expected to decline 43% to 4.43 billion, according to China Tourism Academy.
Still, China’s tourism industry has started to recover since the country’s domestic COVID-19 outbreak is largely under control.
Visitors in protective masks walk through the grounds of the Yellow Crane Tower in Wuhan, China, on Aug. 8, 2020. The tower is China’s most sought-after tourist destination during the October holiday, according to a new report. Yan Cong—Bloomberg/Getty Images
The first major test of China’s travel recovery came in late spring, when China opened up leisure travel during its May Day holiday, and some 80 million Chinese travelers took trips around the country. In July, China loosened travel restrictions further and reopened cross-province group tourism, which was considered a final push to get the industry back to normal.
Now, Beijing and China’s travel industry see the October National Day as an opportunity to convince any remaining skeptics that domestic travel is safe. Some 1,500 tourist sites in China are either dropping or heavily discounting gate fees during the holiday, and local authorities are providing travel coupons as an added incentive.
Safe travels
But China’s tourism push ends at its borders.
The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) reported earlier this month that 115 of 217 global destinations surveyed had started to ease travel restrictions for foreign tourists. As of late August, some 24 countries had fully reopened their borders to Chinese tourists, allowing them to enter without quarantines, Wolfgang Georg Arlt, director of the China Outbound Tourism Institute, wrote in a report on China’s travel industry. But even as barriers recede, Chinese tourists, who represent the world’s largest source of outbound travelers, may be slow to return abroad.
Crowds fill a railway station in Hangzhou in China’s Zhejiang province on Sept. 28, 2020. China’s railways are scheduled to carry 108 million passengers between Sept. 28 and Oct. 8. Feature China/Barcroft Media/Getty Images
Last week, China’s Centers for Disease Control released a set of safety guidelines for traveling amid the pandemic. It said that China is low-risk for COVID-19 infection but that much of the rest of the world presents a high risk for contracting the disease. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged Chinese travelers not to leave the country on Monday, launching a campaign that says if a foreign trip is “not essential, then don’t travel.”


fortune--2020-09-29--Plastic-eating ‘Pac-men’: Researchers say enzyme cocktail could revolutionize recycling

A new “enzyme cocktail” could be happily munching plastic at recycling sites within a couple of years, according to British and American researchers.
The technique wouldn’t just help to deal with the problem of ever-increasing plastic waste—because it returns the plastic to its original building blocks, it could also improve the recycling process in ways that are currently impossible, reducing the need to make new plastic out of fossil fuels. But until now, the process seemed too slow for commercial viability.
Back in 2016, scientists discovered plastic-eating bacteria at a recycling plant in Japan. Two years later, researchers from the University of Portsmouth in England and the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory were trying to model the “PETase” enzyme contained in the bacteria to understand it better—and they accidentally engineered a mutant version that was even more efficient at breaking down the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic that is commonly used to make bottles.
Fast-forward another two years, and the researchers have made yet another discovery.
As detailed in a research paper published Monday, the mutant PETase can be combined with another enzyme called MHETase, found in the same trash-dwelling bacterium. It turns out that the simple mixing of the two enzymes doubles the speed of their plastic digestion. And if a connection is engineered between the two enzymes, the digestion is another three times faster.
In other words, this enzyme cocktail can digest plastic up to six times faster than the original mutant PETase (which was itself 20% faster than the natural PETase) can.
“Our first experiments showed that they did indeed work better together, so we decided to try to physically link them, like two Pac-men joined by a piece of string,” said University of Portsmouth professor John McGeehan in a statement. “It took a great deal of work on both sides of the Atlantic, but it was worth the effort. We were delighted to see that our new chimeric enzyme is up to three times faster than the naturally evolved separate enzymes, opening new avenues for further improvements.”
McGeehan told the Guardian that commercial use could start happening “within the next year or two” if the academics work in partnership with biorecycling firms such as France’s Carbios, which recently found an enzyme that quickly digests plastic bottles, but at high temperatures that the new super-enzyme does not require.
The professor also told the newspaper that it might be possible to combine plastic-eating enzymes with those that break down natural fibers, which would allow for the currently impractical recycling of mixed fabrics that include both polyester and cotton.


fortune--2020-09-29--September was bad for investors. And watch out: October may be ‘choppier’

With just two trading days left in the month, it’s probably safe to say: September was largely a flop. But as markets pick up a bit of steam this week, what will investors have to look forward to come October?
If you ask Edward Jones’s Nela Richardson, “I think the choppiness we saw in September will spill over into October,” she tells Fortune. “It’s unlikely given the election and the near-term uncertainty about stimulus that we’ll see the smooth rally that we saw this summer.”
In terms of what could spur on this continued “choppiness,” Richardson highlights the still-unresolved stimulus talks, rising coronavirus cases across the U.S., and, of course, the upcoming election. (Of all three, Richardson suggests the pandemic is still the most worrying for markets.) And while the economic recovery was more pronounced this spring and summer, “from here on out, it’s going to be longer and more protracted and less clear. I think the market performance will reflect that,” she says.
But for CFRA’s Sam Stovall, October may clue investors in to where the correction (or rally) goes from here: “October has historically been a bottoming month,” he wrote in a note Monday. In context, “the depth and duration of this decline remains the outstanding question. As to how far, we think the S&P 500 will test its 200-day moving average, causing a top-to-bottom decline approaching 14%,” he suggests.
What history tells us
As strategists like LPL Financial’s Ryan Detrick have pointed out, September and October tend to be weaker months preceding an election.
And historically, October has been one of the more volatile months. So much so that CFRA’s Stovall quips, “Investors may be convinced that Halloween was purposely placed in October because the market’s actions can be so spooky.” Since World War II, the biggest increase in an October (up 16.9% in 1974) was “the best of any month,” while its deepest decline (down 21.8% in 1987) was the worst, Stovall writes. “Not surprising, October’s standard deviation of monthly returns is 36% higher than the average for all other months. Overall, Stovall warns investors: October is a “capitulation month,” with the biggest percentage of 5%-plus declines concluded in October, “usually with swift and sharp selloffs,” he wrote.
But that doesn’t mean the current correction, which has seen the S&P 500 drop nearly 10% (now down 6.4%) and the Nasdaq shed as much as 12% in the past month, is necessarily going to continue.
“This choppiness is something we’ve been warning clients about that it’s coming, and now it’s here. But that doesn’t mean the overall market rally has come to an end,” suggests Edward Jones’s Richardson. “It’s more that we’re just not out of the woods in terms of the major risks to the recovery, which is the pandemic.”
Technical analysts at Bank of America point out that “weaker seasonality and tactical risks…have triggered a correction ahead of the November election, but this bullish setup stays intact if the SPX holds big support in the 3200 to 3000 range,” the analysts wrote in a note Monday, referring to a so-called cup-and-handle pattern (see chart). They see the S&P 500 trading as high as 4300 over the longer term.
But how will tech fare? While Big Tech may be showing a mean reversion, or return to long-standing price norms, LPL’s Jeff Buchbinder argues, “Despite September weakness in this sector that has dragged the broader market lower, we expect technology leadership to continue given supportive underlying fundamental and technical conditions,” he wrote in a note Monday.
For the time being, it seems markets are determined to end the month on a somewhat higher note—the S&P 500 closed up 1.6% on Monday after also trading up Friday.
And moving forward, Richardson has a word of advice: “What investors should do is really look at maintaining diversification, not putting all of their efforts in past leaders.”