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NYSE will temporarily move to all-electronic stock trading
If you thought it was incredibly risky to have legions of traders gather at the New York Stock Exchange in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, you're not the only one. Intercontinental Exchange is temporarily closing the physical NYSE floors in New York and San Francisco on March 23rd in favor of all-electronic trading. Business and regulatory oversight will carry on during the usual hours -- traders just won't get to use "open-outcry" (that is, the classic yelling) to buy or sell shares.
Uber's IPO went off amid outcry over labor conditions and wages
Uber's much-anticipated IPO happened this morning, with shares hitting the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol UBER. The IPO raised $8.1 billion, with shares set at $45 and the company valued at $82.4 billion. This comes amid outcry over Uber's low driver wages and a $1.1 billion profit loss in the first three months of 2019. According to The New York Times, the IPO was "less lofty" than expected.
Feds indict seven Iranians for hacking banks, NY state dam
Just days after accusing Syrian hackers of a wide range of crimes, US Attorney General Loretta Lynch unsealed an indictment against seven Iranian nationals on Wednesday, charging that the men launched dozens of denial of service attacks against targets beginning in 2011. These included the cybersystems of numerous US banks including JP Morgan, PNC and Capital One, as well as the NYSE and AT&T. They are even accused of trying to take control of a small dam in Rye, NY at one point.
Candy Crush studio King seeks up to $7.6 billion IPO valuation
Candy Crush Saga makers King Digital Entertainment Plc, says it expects to price its initial public offering at $21-$24 per share, valuing the company at up to $7.6 billion. King, which became notorious within the games industry after trademarking and enforcing use of the common word "Candy," saw its revenue grow to $602 million in Q4 2013 from only $22 in the first quarter of 2012. Though King's portfolio features 180 games for mobile devices, Facebook and through its own site, analysts note that most of the company's growth was directly linked to its Candy Crush games and questioned whether King could maintain its growth rate going forward. "I think the valuation of a P/E ratio of 13 for a high-growth company is indeed reflecting a skepticism about the ability to continue growing at such a rapid pace," professor and IPO expert at the University of Florida Jay Ritter says, according to Reuters. "The ability to come up with future games and get people to pay for the game is a big question mark." Analysts are quick to compare the high valuation to that of social gaming giant Zynga, which has had its stock price sliced in half since its IPO debuted in 2011 at $10 per share. According to Reuters, "of the 22.2 million shares on sale in the offering, the company will sell 15.5 million, while stockholders, including Apax Ventures, will sell 6.7 million shares." King's IPO is set to be priced on March 25 and will now begin trading under the NYSE symbol 'KING' on March 26, after recently delaying the plan to prove its worth. [Image: King Digital Entertainment Plc]
SouthPeak delists itself from the New York Stock Exchange [update]
Update: We got in touch with a SouthPeak representative, who told us that the company was never "properly listed" on the NYSE to begin with. SouthPeak was "an 'over the counter' type stock that was never properly listed and therefore can't be delisted." So SouthPeak shares were traded between two parties via a broker, meaning the company was never officially part of the NYSE. Original post: It's been a rough year for SouthPeak. Not only did the company suffer millions in losses in its latest earnings report, but it also had to settle a nasty SEC dispute. The latest bump in the road for the Two Worlds 2 publisher is a delisting from the New York Stock Exchange. SouthPeak released a statement citing that "given its current financial condition and the current state of the economic environment within the industry in which it operates, the benefits of having publicly registered shares and filing periodic reports under the federal securities laws are outweighed by the associated costs." So, basically, SouthPeak can't afford to be a public company anymore. The publisher's next major title, Stronghold 3, was recently delayed and is currently slated to launch in "late summer." According to some online retailers, that translates to "in October."
