FVCBankcorp: Q2 Earnings Snapshot
The Fairfax, Virginia-based bank said it had earnings of 31 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring gains, came to 30 cents per share.
The company posted revenue of $30.4 million in the period. Its revenue net of interest expense was $16.6 million, beating Street forecasts.
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Business Insider
21 minutes ago
- Business Insider
Behind Michael Gelband and $11 billion hedge fund ExodusPoint's strong year
There were sky-high expectations for the ExodusPoint Capital Management when it launched 7 years ago. It's starting to meet them. The $11 billion firm was the largest launch in industry history in 2018 thanks to the stellar track record of cofounder Michael Gelband, who previously led Millennium's fixed-income division. He told former colleagues that his unit generated $7 billion in trading revenue in his eight years at Izzy Englander's firm, and hedge fund backers rushed to invest in his new firm, which started trading with a record $8.5 billion. But putting all of the capital to work, hiring scores of investors, setting up the necessary infrastructure, and finding the right leadership took time. The firm, which was also cofounded by former Millennium equities executive Hyung Lee, was a relative disappointment at the start, with the difficult reality of being compared to funds like the cofounders' former employer and Ken Griffin's Citadel from day one. Now, a little over seven years after the manager first began trading, the New York-based firm has outperformed its peers in 2025 and over the last 12 months. The manager is up more than 9% after a 1.8% June gain. Since the start of July 2024, ExodusPoint has returned more than 18%. A person with direct knowledge of the firm's operations pointed to several factors as to why. This person is not permitted to speak publicly about the manager's operations. In a roller coaster equities market, ExodusPoint has benefited from its fixed-income lean. Roughly 75% of the firm's risk is in fixed-income books, the person close to the firm said, which is Gelband's specialty, though the cofounder does not manage money himself. Jon Hoffman, a former Lehman Brothers trader who worked with Gelband at the bank, is one of the firm's best-known portfolio managers with his basis-trade strategy. Gelband is now the sole chief investment officer after Lee stepped down in 2024 (the cofounder, who had relocated to Puerto Rico, is currently a senior advisor). The firm made several hires in 2023 who have led units that were previously under Lee's purview, such as Adam Galeon and Michael Lapsa, who run long-short equities and systematic strategies, respectively. Peter McConnon, once the head of London macro for Balyasny, was also brought in during this time as a senior managing director of fixed income and macro. While members of the original team such as Lee and former chief risk officer Dev Joneja have moved into advisory roles, Garrett Berg, a day-one employee who has since been promoted to president and COO, and Kunal Kumar, a former Balyasny executive who joined in 2023 and is now chief risk officer, have been a big part of the progress on both the investment and non-investment sides of the business, this person said. The firm also adopted a cash hurdle for performance fees last year, meaning ExodusPoint only collects performance fees when it returns more than a Treasury bill. This has lowered the overall fee rate of the firm, boosting net returns. Lastly, the firm has been strategic about how it expands and hires. While headcounts at multistrategy funds have exploded in recent years, ExodusPoint reduced its staff slightly since 2022, according to regulatory filings compiled by industry data tracker Old Well Labs. The firm's overall headcount stood at 688 in 2022 and is now roughly 650, the data show. After raising $1 billion in new cash in 2023, the firm is closed to new capital, like many of its peers, and is not looking to expand into different strategies or markets like commodities or private credit, the person said.
The Intercept
22 minutes ago
- The Intercept
Donald Trump Jr.'s Drone Ventures Could Make a Killing — Thanks to Dad's Big Beautiful Budget
Last November, shortly after Donald Trump was reelected president, his son Donald Trump Jr. joined a venture capital firm with investments in several defense companies. Later that month, he was appointed the advisory board of Unusual Machines, a small, Florida-based drone company incorporated in Nevada. Securities filings showed Trump Jr. owned 331,580 shares in the company, with only two top executives holding more. After he joined the board, the stock doubled to about $10 a share. It was a boon for Trump Jr., but not his last chance to make big money off drones — and his efforts to do so may get a big helping hand from dad. President Donald Trump's military procurement policies, defense budget, and recently passed government budget, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, includes $1.4 billion dollars for small drone production — where Unusual Machines has been making big investments. 'There is no modern or historical comparison for what Don Jr. and the President are doing.' With his father's administration footing the bill for massive domestic drone expansion, good government watchdogs fear Trump Jr. could benefit financially, creating a conflict of interest, or at least the appearance of one — without anyone even finding out. The president's family is not subject to the same financial disclosures that federal officials must make about their financial and business interests. 'Don Jr. is not subject to any disclosures,' said Donald Sherman, executive vice president and chief counsel at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW. 'There's just innumerable ways that this company with ties to Don Jr. can lobby the administration through him without having to report that information.' (Unusual Machines, the Trump Organization, and the White House did not respond to requests for comment.) Though many current and former elected officials have deep ties to the defense industry, Sherman said the Trumps' positions were unique in their scale and brazenness. 'I want to make clear that this is a problem, and it's a problem that impacts the whole of government,' Sherman said, 'but there is no modern or historical comparison for what Don Jr. and the President are doing.' Unusual Machines has been positioning itself to benefit from legislative and government policy changes. The company is made up of two parts: Fat Shark, which makes goggles, controllers, and other drone components and accessories; and an e-commerce platform called Rotor Riot, which sells drone parts. According to a pitch deck for investors, Unusual Machines also plans to acquire an Australian drone motor manufacturer, Rotor Lab. The acquisition of Rotor Lab, according to the presentation, is part of a wider plan to move the small-drone supply chain to American soil. The company will produce its own drone motors at a planned 17,000 square foot facility in Orlando, Florida. That facility is, according to the pitch deck, part of an effort to 'onshore' more drone manufacturing and avoid heavy tariffs on Chinese drone technology. Moving more manufacturing to the U.S. will also help comply with new government national security regulations and Pentagon procurement policies. Congress has just begun work on the 2026 defense budget, or National Defense Authorization Act. The NDAA is set to prioritize government funding for bringing production of small drone components to the U.S., including at private manufacturing facilities. And a July 10 memo from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth states the Pentagon's intention to invest significantly in American-made drones and drone components — like those Unusual Machines plans to manufacture starting in September, according to the investor presentation. (The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment.) Some of Unusual Machines' moves are already in line with military drone applications. The company will make motors for first-person view drones, or FPVs — small drones of the kind already being trialed in military exercises — at the new Orlando facility. Because the company is focusing on making and selling FPV drone components that comply with the NDAA, they'd also stand to benefit from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act's billions in subsidies for military drone technology, including $1.4 billion 'for the expansion of the small unmanned aerial system industrial base.' Unusual Machines has a promising position in the market; since small drones are traditionally made for commercial use, larger defense contractors may have them in the catalog but haven't focused as much on developing them. Unusual Machines says in its investor presentation that bringing manufacturing to the U.S. will give it a 'strong competitive advantage.' Experts worry that having Trump Jr. on their side could do the same thing. 'There's always these risks that he is going to have inside information or be able to access inside information from the U.S. government for a whole range of things,' Colby Goodman, an arms trade expert at Transparency International U.S., said. 'Just from the procurement side, he could know about upcoming bids, and the content of what that is, and help them win contracts with the U.S. government.' 'When contractors don't get the U.S. government contracts they want … they backfill with arm sales and deals with foreign entities.' Even if Unusual Machines doesn't win contracts with the government, that doesn't mean it won't make money, Julia Gledhill, a research analyst for the National Security Reform Program at the Stimson Center, said. 'What happens when contractors don't get the U.S. government contracts they want is then they backfill with arm sales and deals with foreign entities,' Gledhill said. 'There's something to be said, potentially, about the idea that contractors are going to develop technologies or weapons with state support and make money by selling them elsewhere.' Trump Jr.'s ties to the defense and drone industries go further than his role with Unusual Machines. He's also a partner at 1789 Capital, a venture capital firm led by Republican megadonor Omeed Malik. The company's investments include plenty of defense firms like Anduril, AI-powered aerospace firm Hadrian, and Firehawk. Trump Jr.'s involvement in investment decisions isn't clear, but he's been positioned as a face of the company alongside Malik at events including the Qatar Economic Forum. 'Mr. Malik and Donald Trump Jr. have an established business relationship that dates back more than five years, which is why the firm was thrilled to welcome Don's business expertise last year in the role of partner,' said a 1789 spokesperson, who touted the firm's compliance and transparency records. 'Don, as a private citizen who has never served in government, is permitted to continue to pursue his decades-long career in business.' Trump Jr.'s potential benefit from his investments through 1789 would shake out differently from Unusual Machines. Partners in venture capital firms typically take a fee to manage investments in startups. Then, if those companies make a big return when they go public or are acquired by another firm, the venture capitalists can make money after they repay institutional investors. VCs also receive other benefits like a seat on the company's board or equity in the company. Start-ups backed by 1789 would be better positioned to be acquired or go public — as Anduril expects to do — with lucrative government contracts in hand. The fact that Trump Jr. stands to benefit from his father's presidency so much, on top of his family's wealth, clearly present conflicting interests, said Sherman, the CREW expert — but it's not illegal. Although there is legislation aimed at eliminating some types of conflicts of interest, there's no comprehensive bill aimed at the adult children of high-ranking officials. 'The rules themselves aren't designed, unfortunately, to force the adult children of government officials to report their financial entanglements,' Sherman said. 'But Don Jr. and President Trump continue to make the case for why maybe they should.'
San Francisco Chronicle
22 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Tariffs threaten Asian beauty product boom in US
NEW YORK (AP) — When Amrita Bhasin, 24, learned that products from South Korea might be subject to a new tax when they entered the United States, she decided to stock up on the sheet masks from Korean brands like U-Need and MediHeal she uses a few times a week. 'I did a recent haul to stockpile,' she said. 'I bought 50 in bulk, which should last me a few months.' South Korea is one of the countries that hopes to secure a trade deal before the Aug. 1 date President Donald Trump set for enforcing nation-specific tariffs. A not-insignificant slice of the U.S. population has skin in the game when it comes to Seoul avoiding a 25% duty on its exports. Asian skin care has been a booming global business for a more than a decade, with consumers in Europe, North and South America, and increasingly the Middle East, snapping up creams, serums and balms from South Korea, Japan and China. In the United States and elsewhere, Korean cosmetics, or K-beauty for short, have dominated the trend. A craze for all-in-one 'BB creams' — a combination of moisturizer, foundation and sunscreen — morphed into a fascination with 10-step rituals and ingredients like snail mucin, heartleaf and rice water. Vehicles and electronics may be South Korea's top exports to the U.S. by value, but the country shipped more skin care and cosmetics to the U.S. than any other last year, according to data from market research company Euromonitor. France, with storied beauty brands like L'Oreal and Chanel, was second, Euromonitor said. Statistics compiled by the U.S. International Trade Commission, an independent federal agency, show the U.S. imported $1.7 billion worth of South Korean cosmetics in 2024, a 54% increase from a year earlier. 'Korean beauty products not only add a lot of variety and choice for Americans, they really embraced them because they were offering something different for American consumers,' Mary Lovely, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said. Along with media offerings such as 'Parasite' and 'Squid Games,' and the popularity of K-pop bands like BTS, K-beauty has helped boost South Korea's profile globally, she said. 'It's all part and parcel really of the same thing,' Lovely said. 'And it can't be completely stopped by a 25% tariff, but it's hard to see how it won't influence how much is sold in the U.S. And I think what we're hearing from producers is that it also really decreases the number of products they want to offer in this market.' Senti Senti, a retailer that sells international beauty products at two New York boutiques and through an e-commerce site, saw a bit of 'panic buying' by customers when Trump first imposed punitive tariffs on goods from specific countries, manager Winnie Zhong said. The rush slowed down after the president paused the new duties for 90 days and hasn't picked up again, Zhong said, even with Trump saying on July 7 that a 25% tax on imports from Japan and South Korea would go into effect on Aug. 1. Japan, the Philippines and Indonesia subsequently reached agreements with the Trump administration that lowered the tariff rates their exported goods faced — in Japan's case, from 25% to 15% — still higher than the current baseline of 10% tariff. But South Korea has yet to clinch an agreement, despite having a free trade agreement since 2012 that allowed cosmetics and most other consumer goods to enter the U.S. tax-free. Since the first store owned by Senti Senti opened 16 years ago, beauty products from Japan and South Korea became more of a focus and now account for 90% the stock. The business hasn't had to pass on any tariff-related costs to customers yet, but that won't be possible if the products are subject to a 25% import tax, Zhong said. 'I'm not really sure where the direction of K-beauty will go to with the tariffs in place, because one of the things with K-beauty or Asian beauty is that it's supposed to be accessible pricing,' she said. Devoted fans of Asian cosmetics will often buy direct from Asia and wait weeks for their packages to arrive because the products typically cost less than they do in American stores. Rather than stocking up on their favorite sunscreens, lip tints and toners, some shoppers are taking a pause due to the tariff uncertainty. Los Angeles resident Jen Chae, a content creator with over 1.2 million YouTube subscribers, has explored Korean and Japanese beauty products and became personally intrigued by Chinese beauty brands over the last year. When the tariffs were first announced, Chae temporarily paused ordering from sites such as a shopping platform owned by an e-commerce company based in Hong Kong. She did not know if she would have to pay customs duties on the products she bought or the ones brands sent to her as a creator. 'I wasn't sure if those would automatically charge the entire package with a blanket tariff cost, or if it was just on certain items,' Chae said. On its website, YesStyle says it will give customers store credit to reimburse them for import charges. At Ohlolly, an online store focused on Korean products, owners Sue Greene and Herra Namhie are taking a similar pause. They purchase direct from South Korea and from licensed wholesalers in the U.S., and store their inventory in a warehouse in Ontario, California. After years of no duties, a 25% import tax would create a 'huge increase in costs to us,' Namhie said. She and Greene made two recent orders to replenish their stock when the tariffs were at 10%. But they have put further restocks on hold "because I don't think we can handle 25%,' Namhie said. They'd have to raise prices, and then shoppers might go elsewhere. The business owners and sisters are holding out on hope the U.S. and Korea settle on a lower tariff or carve out exceptions for smaller ticket items like beauty products. But they only have two to four months of inventory in their warehouse. They say that in a month they'll have to make a decision on what products to order, what to discontinue and what prices will have to increase. Rachel Weingarten, a former makeup artist who writes a daily beauty newsletter called 'Hello Gorgeous!,' said while she's devoted to K-beauty products like lip masks and toner pads, she doesn't think stockpiling is a sound practice. 'Maybe one or two products, but natural oils, vulnerable packaging and expiration dates mean that your products could go rancid before you can get to them,' she said. Weingarten said she'll still buy Korean products if prices go up, but that the beauty world is bigger than one country. 'I'd still indulge in my favorites, but am always looking for great products in general,' she said. Bhasin, in Menlo Park, California, plans to keep buying her face masks too, even if the price goes up, because she likes the quality of Korean masks.
