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Ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft are fighting for investors in their initial public offerings and banks are rivaling it out for the most lucrative IPOs in recent years… But there could be no money left for the second one, so timing will be key.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, the vehicle operator Uber could go public faster than expected. It could also be valued much higher than previously thought.

Toyota invested $500 million in August which put Uber at a value of $76 billion. The company recently received proposals from investment banks, which indicates a valuation of up to $120 billion. This would be higher than the 49 largest IPOs of US companies in recent years.

The size of the IPO also determines the fees that banks charge for their services. If they succeed in making the $120 billion valuation for the high-deficit company palatable to investors, it could pay off before the institutions can participate.

The media also reports that Lyft has selected supervising banks to complete their IPO. This suggests that the toughest competitor could manage to pip Uber to the post.

JPMorgan Chase will be the leading bank, followed by Credit Suisse, and several other banks. In the most recent round of financing, shareholders granted Lyft a valuation of $15 billion, compared to $7.5 billion in April 2017.

However, Wall Street banks are also likely to deliberately set their forecasts high in order to secure their applications for the lucrative business. Financial markets have been anxiously awaiting Uber’s IPO which is planned for 2019.

According to the report, preparations are gaining momentum and the IPO could be completed at the beginning of the year. Uber has finally found a new chief financial officer after three years of searching and that should be key for planning its IPO.

A Constant Rivalry Between Uber and Lyft About to End

Both companies are developing technologies such as self-driving cars, test subscription systems for frequent travelers, and expansion into alternative transport methods such as rental electric scooters and bicycles.

Lyft, which was always left behind, strongly benefited in 2017 and 2018 from the massive turbulence at Uber that even cost its previous CEO his job and lead many customers to leave Uber for Lyft.

However, with this latest valuation, it looks as if Uber will once again come out on top.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

Yes, it does all sound slightly sordid. The Americans and the Germans battling over their interests in Iraq. Only this time, over who lands the Iraq power generation contract worth an estimated $15 billion. General Electric appears to have pipped Siemens to the post with a little help from president Trump and his administration, who reportedly pressured Baghdad into rejecting the German bid.

Non-Binding Memorandum of Understanding

Call it bribery, call it cronyism, or call it a non-binding memorandum of understanding. It basically amounts to the same thing. The US and Iraqi governments have long discussed how they will co-operate on the issue of power generation, and oil and gas production. The US has oil interests in Iraq? Who knew?

Unfortunately for the German energy giant, their hopes were dashed before leaving the paddock and their winning bid crumbled under the weight of the US government.

General Electric and Siemens had been battling out the deal for several months and it almost looked as if the Munich-based company was close to securing a deal. But as the competition began stepping up a gear, and General Electric started losing ground, the Trump administration issued a friendly reminder about the memorandum. And about the 7,000 Americans that had died since the 2003 invasion to remove Saddam Hussein.

OK, so not so friendly after all.

Welcome News for General Electric

General Electric hasn’t had the best run lately. With dwindling profits and expectations for a dismal third-quarter earnings report, the Iraq power generation contract will be welcome news for its troubled energy division.

Thanks to this new deal, shareholders can look forward to positive news in the Q3 report set for delivery on October 30.

It would have been nice if someone had let the German giant know, though, that their chances of sealing the deal were next to zero.

The company had worked for months on its roadmap for developing infrastructure in Iraq and ramifications of losing the deal will ring throughout the company.

Siemens was so close, in fact, that the chief executive traveled to the Iraqi capital to meet with prime minister Haider Al-Abadi.

But two weeks ago, advisors to Al-Abadi let the company know that they should give up on the deal since their insistence was piling pressure on the Iraqi government. The advisor reportedly said:

“The US government is holding a gun to our head.”

A Tight Spot

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is said to offer both insurance and financing for US companies working in the Iraqi power sector. While that will certainly push GE past the German company on this occasion, Siemen’s power and gas unit is actually headquartered in Houston, which means they could stand to benefit from the agreement at a later date.

Right now Iraq is in a tighter spot than usual. The middle eastern country is relying on US government support over the country’s gas imports from Iran.

Some 35-40% of Iraq’s electricity comes from Iranian gas (are you getting the other irony here?) and with US sanctions on Iran imminent from November 5, those purchases could lead to fines for Iraq, and a wave of blackouts across the country.

The sanctions are a delicate situation not only for Iraq, however, but for the United States as well. If General Electric begins to sell power plants to Iraq using Iranian gas, the metaphorical sh** could really hit the fan, ruffling more than a few feathers in Germany since the country has been instructed to stop doing deals with Iran.

The next few weeks will be interesting to say the least, as we watch how Iraq manages a workaround its Iranian imports. And how the US will avoid falling on the sword of their own sanctions.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

Technology deals, mergers, and acquisitions get bigger every day. The highest value deal of all time, so far at least, tops $67 billion. The top 10 wheeling and dealing technology giants include Dell, Microsoft, HP, Facebook, and even grocery chain Walmart. Check out the largest of the digital age so far.

1. Dell Acquired EMC for $67 Billion

Server and hardware giant Dell, at the time half the size of EMC with a value of $25 billion, agreed on the deal to buy EMC in 2015. EMC as an entity would go private and become part of Dell.

EMC’s VMWare would continue to be separate, publicly traded company. The deal closed in 2016. Dell is now considering going public with an initial public offering (IPO) but has also considered buying back Dell “tracking stock” tied to its 81% share of publicly listed VMWare.

2. Avago Bought Broadcom for $37 Billion

Once the biggest technology deal in history, the Avago deal was overtaken by Dell acquiring EMC. Avago and Broadcom, keeping the name Broadcom, became a chip and semiconductor powerhouse which then tried to buy out Qualcomm in what would have been a $121 billion deal.

The deal was blocked by US President Donald Trump citing national security concerns over the monopoly a Chinese company would have over US mobile technology.

3) Softbank Takeover of ARM for $31.4 Billion

This 2016 deal raised concerns in the technology community. Chip maker ARM was seen as a benign monopoly, neutral in the world of technology. Its technology is used by almost all smartphone processors and now is in many of the chips that will power the internet of things (IoT).

Softbank is a Japanese tech conglomerate that wasn’t neutral due to its ownership of U.S and Japanese wireless carriers. This, some said, could cause distrust in the industry.

4) Microsoft Bought LinkedIn for $26.2 Billion

The largest acquisition for Microsoft, this deal closed in 2016 and gave Microsoft greater power in Silicon Valley. The software giant is still working on ways to integrate social media network LinkedIn with its other Microsoft platforms and products.

5) HP Bought Compaq for $21 Billion

Hardware maker HP was already under pressure when it bought Compaq in 2001. Both brands product lines overlapped with low-profit margins in the traditional computing market and HP lost half its market value in the following four years.

Further acquisitions by HP were similarly disastrous, but its share price has recovered since 2016.  Now HP and competitor Lenovo make almost half of PCs sold worldwide.

6) Facebook Grabs WhatsApp for $22 Billion

In a deal that closed in 2014, Facebook paid $6 billion over WhatsApp’s initial early 2014 value. Facebook’s stock price was also soaring. The deal accompanies other, not so large deals, for Facebook like its acquisition of Instagram and then Oculus, taking Facebook into the realm of virtual reality.

Facebook is dealing with other issues right now, including numerous concerns over how it collects and uses personal data.

7) Nokia Acquired Alcatel-Lucent for $16.6 Billion

Closing in 2016, the deal moved Nokia to the top in mobile telecommunications and places Nokia as one of the few suppliers of 5G equipment alongside Ericsson and Huawei.

The acquisition helped to reinvent Nokia after falling from its dominant market position in the emerging mobile phone industry to near bankruptcy as smartphones took over.

8) Walmart Bought Flipkart for $16 Billion

Not a company you would first describe as a technology one, Walmart is actually building its technology stack. Acquiring Indian e-commerce company Flipkart was a strategy to compete with Amazon’s worldwide domination of the e-commerce marketplace.

Walmart is also an early mover in the blockchain space, having filed numerous patents and already adopting blockchain technology into its supply chain management.

9) Intel Bought MobileEye for $15 Billion

MobileEye, the self-driving technology company, was acquired by Intel in 2017 and is a play into artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles by processor maker Intel.

MobileEye’s computer vision, machine learning, and mapping technology are now built into Intel driver-assisted and autonomous driving systems. Fiat-Chrysler, BMW and Alphabet’s Waymo all use Intel technology.

10) Amazon Acquired Whole Foods for $13.7 Billion

Though Whole Foods is not a technology company, Amazon certainly is and the deal in 2017 gave Amazon physical stores with which to expand its e-commerce empire.

Amazon now sells its devices in Whole Foods stores and offers discounts for Amazon Prime members. Whole Foods also gives Amazon another angle to try and expand its fresh food delivery aspirations.

Technology Deals Set to Increase

As new technologies like blockchain, artificial intelligence, virtual reality and the internet of things accelerate in development the number of technology mergers and acquisitions, and their value is likely to increase.

Today’s technology giants will need to innovate and continue to acquire if they want to retain market positions in a transforming technological landscape.

Images from Shutterstock.

After being in denial for nearly nine years, Walmart Inc will pay thousands of its employees in a class action over cashiers standing up during work periods, according to a Fortune report.

The retailer has agreed to pay the sum of $65 million to employees after the company had denied any wrongdoing in the year-long case, which was scheduled to go to trial before the end of this year. Nisha Brown filed the lawsuit in 2009.

A federal judge must approve the proposed settlement, and its outcome could affect about 100,000 current and former Walmart employees. The deal would cover cashiers employed by the retailer between June 11, 2008, to the date when the settlement is approved.

According to an attorney to the plaintiffs, some cashiers will be eligible to receive more than $1,000 each.

California’s Private Attorney General Act

This is the first time a lawsuit that requires seating for employees would be brought under a California regulation “when the nature of the work reasonably permits.” As per the settlement, the company would also begin providing seats for its cashiers in California.

According to Walmart’s spokesman, Randy Hargrove:

“both sides are pleased to have reached a proposed resolution.”

The settlement, if it eventually gets approved by a federal judge, would be the largest settlement under California’s unique Private Attorney General Act which gives workers the right to sue employers on behalf of the state and keep a quarter of that money.

The regulation which was initially adopted in 1911 only applied to women working in the retail company. However, the law was later amended several times in the following century.

The retailer’s argument against the lawsuit was that placing stools at the point of payment or cash registers could be unsafe, and even reduce workers’ productivity. It added that the nature of a cashier’s work did not require them to sit down because they needed to scan large items, perform duties away from registers, and stretch to view the bottom of shoppers’ cart.

The retailer also argued that it had a policy of providing stools to cashiers that suffer from certain medical conditions or disabilities. Nonetheless, the provision of these stools is often based on a manager’s discretion on a case by case basis.

In a similar case, Bank of America paid a settlement of $15 million to for not allowing their cashiers to sit while they worked. Other companies like CVS Health Corp, AT&T Corp, JPMorgan Chase Bank NA, and Home Depot Inc have also been slammed with similar lawsuits.

Pregnancy-Related Restrictions

Just last month, Walmart was also accused of discriminating against pregnant employees and violating federal law by failing to consider workers’ pregnancy-related restrictions.

The lawsuit filed by the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) stated that Alyssa Gilliam and some other pregnant employees at the Walmart’s Distribution Centre in Wisconsin were not included in the company’s light-duty program, which was established to restrict workers with medical conditions from dangerous tasks.

Julianne Bowman, the EEOC’s district director in Chicago who managed the investigation had stated:

“What our investigation indicated is that Walmart had a robust light-duty program that allowed workers with lifting restrictions to be accommodated. But Walmart deprived pregnant workers of the opportunity to participate in its program. This amounted to pregnancy discrimination, which violates federal law.”

In response to the allegation, Walmart spokesman Randy Hargrove stated that Walmart is a “great place for women to work,” but noted that the company would defend itself against the accusations.

Hargrove added that the retail company has over the years amended its accommodations policy. He argued that the company’s policies:

“have always fully met or exceeded both state and federal law, and this includes the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act.”

Featured image from Pixabay.