Catch up on the weekend’s top five stories with this list compiled by The Fly:
1. A group led by Acacia Research (ACTG), which is controlled by activist investor Starboard Value, offered to buy Kohl’s (KSS) for $64 per share in cash, a 37% premium to Friday’s closing price of $46.84 and an offer that values the department store operator at roughly $9B, The Wall Street Journal’s Cara Lombardo reported, citing people familiar with the matter. There are no guarantees that the group will ultimately line up all the funding needed and make a firm offer, but the bidders told the company they have assurances from bankers about being able to get financing for the bid, sources added. Previously, Reuters’ Svea Herbst-Bayliss reported that Starboard-backed Acacia had reached out to Kohl’s to express interest in making a bid.
2. Wynn Resorts (WYNN) is looking to unload its online sports-betting business at a steep discount as the fledgling niche faces painful losses from stiff taxes and costly promotions needed to lure customers, New York Post’s Josh Kosman reported. The Las Vegas-based casino giant is quietly shopping its Wynn Interactive unit – operator of the WynnBet online gaming app – and has slashed the asking price to $500 million after floating a $3 billion valuation less than a year ago, a source close to the situation told The Post.
3. Netflix (NFLX) shares have been struggling for months. Heading into this past week’s fateful fourth-quarter earnings report, there were worries about increased competition from Walt Disney (DIS), Apple (AAPL), and others, along with consumers’ reaction to a recent price hike, Eric J. Savitz wrote in this week’s edition of Barron’s. As it turned out, Thursday’s report was a big deal, just not in the way that bulls would have liked. Netflix missed subscriber estimates, the only number that matters to investors, the author noted. Netflix shares plunged more than 20% following results, and what makes the whole situation more worrisome is that Netflix couldn’t cleanly explain its soft outlook, Savitz added. Despite this quarter’s terrible reviews, it might be time to start nibbling, he argued.
4. Sony (SONY) and Marvel’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home” returned to number 1 in its sixth weekend, earning an estimated $14.1M from 3,705 locations for a domestic cume of $721M, the fourth-best showing of all time. The Sony and Marvel’s superhero film also passed up 2019’s “The Lion King” and 2015’s “Jurassic World” to become the number 6 movie of all time worldwide with $1.69B in global ticket, not adjusted for inflation.
5. Mr. Cooper Group (COOP), Goldman Sachs (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), Bank of America (BAC), and Wells Fargo (WFC) saw positive mentions in this week’s edition of Barron’s.