Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2021-03-08

SARKOZY: CHESNOT/GETTY IMAGES. VOLCANO: XINHUA/GETTY IMAGES. ISMAIL, LANE, AND SEYMOUR: GOLDMAN SACHS.

JORDAN:

WARREN

K^ LEFFLER/GETTY

IMAGES

 IN BRIEF

○ Apollo Global

Management

pulled off two big

deals within a

few hours.

○ Nicolas Sarkozy

was sentenced

to a one-year

prison term on a

corruption charge.

○ Global coronavirus cases

have topped

115m

and more than 2.5 million

people have died. In the

U.S., regulators authorized

Johnson & Johnson’s

single-shot vaccine. The

government hopes to ship

20  million J&J doses this

month and 100  million by

the end of June. More than

265  million vaccine doses

have been given worldwide.

○ Swedish payments

company Klarna Bank was

valued at

$31b

in its latest funding round,

making it Europe’s most

valuable startup. Klarna

lets online customers buy

now and pay later in four

interest-free installments.

○ Rio Tinto

Chairman Simon

Thompson will

step down.

○ Nike executive Ann

Hebert abruptly stepped

down following a Bloomberg

Businessweek report

about her son operating

a business

reselling the

company’s sneakers and

using her credit card.

Hebert was vice president

and general manager of

North America for Nike,

which said the decision to

leave was hers.

○ Lex Greensill’s

supply chain

lending empire

imploded.

○ Goldman Sachs suffered

an exodus of top decision

makers in the space of a

few days. Omer

Ismail, who

ran Goldman’s

consumer bank, left to join

Walmart. Eric Lane, the co-

head of the asset

management

business, quit for

Tiger Global Management,

followed by the departure

of General

Counsel Karen

Seymour.  29

“I’m here because I stand

on many, many shoulders,

and that’s true of every

Black person I know who

has achieved.”

Civil rights leader Vernon Jordan

died on March 1 at the age of 85. The

Georgia native rose from poverty to

become a key adviser to politicians

and corporations.

Bloomberg Businessweek By Benedikt Kammel

○ Mount Sinabung spewed a giant ash plume into the sky on March 2. It was the

Indonesian volcano’s first major eruption since August.

9

The former French

president was accused

of pulling strings to help

a magistrate land a

prestigious job in return for

a favor. He plans to appeal.

The private equity powerhouse,

together with Vici Properties, agreed

to buy Las Vegas Sands’ real estate

portfolio for $6.25 billion on March 3,

before announcing the purchase of

U.S. crafting and hobby chain Michaels

for about $3.3 billion.

The Australian financier faced

questions from investors about the

value of some of his firm’s loans,

and German regulators closed his

namesake bank amid probes into

accounting irregularities. Now part

of his business will file for insolvency,

while other assets will be sold.

The move adds to a management

reshuffle in the wake of the mining

company’s controversial blasting of a

40,000-year-old Aboriginal heritage

site last year.