Latest news with #Loeb
New York Post
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Nicholas Loeb, Sofia Vergara's ex, claims director conned him over failed Mona Lisa flick
Sofia Vergara's ex — who spent years feuding with the 'Modern Family' actress over custody rights of their frozen embryos — was allegedly scammed by a German director into shelling out nearly $40,000 on a movie project that went nowhere. Nicholas Loeb, an actor and entrepreneur, was hoping to snag Robert Schwentke to helm a flick called the 'Art of the Con,' which he described in a lawsuit against the director as 'a historically inspired heist film dramatizing the theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre in the early 20th century.' Schwentke, 57, who directed the 2017 film 'The Captain,' allegedly agreed to take the project on in 2022 but only if his preferred writer, Matthew Wilder, took a crack at the screenplay, Loeb claimed in a Manhattan Supreme Court filing. Loeb has fought with ex-Sofia Vergara for years in court over their embryos. Getty Images Loeb shelled out $25,000 to Wilder to rewrite the script, based on Schwentke's promise, then another $12,500 in January 2023 after the director demanded a second rewrite. Even though he didn't want to hire the screenwriter, Loeb 'agreed to retain Wilder solely for the purpose of securing Schwentke as director,' according to the litigation. Schwentke even voiced enthusiasm for the project, Loeb alleged. He imagined that 'directing a Lubitsch-style elegant heist-comedy … would be one of the great joys of [his] career,' he told Loeb, according to the lawsuit. The director allegedly stopped responding for months, then 'resurfaced' in August 2023?]] demanding a third rewrite 'again to be performed by Wilder and again for a $25,000 fee,' Loeb claimed. Director Robert Schwentke allegedly claimed he would sign on to help Loeb's project, then backed out. dpa/picture alliance via Getty Images Schwentke then ditched the project in March, leaving Loeb on the hook for more than $37,000 in expenses, he claimed. 'Mr. Loeb believes he was swindled by Schwentke in collusion with his friend, costing him millions,' said attorney Andrew B. Smith, who reps Loeb. Loeb is seeking unspecified damages 'in an amount sufficient to punish' the pair for their 'willful, malicious, and fraudulent conduct.' The Westchester-based Loeb spent nearly a decade in a high-profile legal battle with Vergara over the fate of their remaining embryos created by in vitro fertilization, after their bid to have children failed. Vergara won in court, preventing Loeb from bringing their embryos to term using a surrogate. Wilder and Schwentke did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
CNBC
3 days ago
- Business
- CNBC
Daniel Loeb's next task as his hedge fund turns 30: Avoiding becoming 'AI roadkill'
Daniel Loeb has found himself a new goal as his hedge fund Third Point entered its milestone 30th year: To be a true winner in the red-hot artificial intelligence boom and not run over by it. "Change is happening at an ever accelerating and increasing rate and it's just going to require us to continue to be even more nimble, and to use AI as your own tool to stay on top of what's going on," Loeb told CNBC's Scott Wapner at Third Point's investor day Thursday. "You'll either be a beneficiary of AI or AI roadkill. So I think we all need to do our best to not be the latter." AI has dominated Wall Street's investing theme over the past two years as investors left and right seek to hit home runs in the space, from chipmakers to hardware producers to car companies and utilities. Loeb, once known for his sharp brand of activism, has emerged as a big AI bull in recent years, increasing his fund's AI exposure to nearly half of its equity portfolio in 2024. Ways Loeb is playing AI The hedge-fund investor not only owns "legacy" companies like Meta , Nvidia , Microsoft and Amazon — which he said have built enormous competitive advantages — but he is also betting on AI beneficiary London Stock Exchange Group and chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing . "It's a pervasive component of our research process... It's a variable in which we benchmark all of the companies that we invest in, both in terms of how they're using it… whether it's cloud companies or Amazons or Microsofts and how they're directly benefiting from it," Loeb said. Three decades ago, Loeb started Third Point with $3.2 million cobbled together from friends and family. Today, the hedge fund touts over $20 billion assets under management and net returns of 15% since inception, weathering the dotcom crash, the 2008 financial crisis and the Covid pandemic. Known for being one of the best activist investors ever, he's grown the firm to include a significant credit and venture business. On today's market environment, Loeb believes the short-term uncertainty will start to fade by next year and investors picking quality, growth stocks with fair prices will be rewarded in the long run. "I think it will be ok.. I think we'll start looking towards a better, more predictable 2026," Loeb said. "I think there will definitely be winners and losers. The economy will grow at about a one-percent rate unless something comes out of left field, so I think it's a good environment for investing in growthy companies at good valuations." He also revealed that Third Point got back into US Steel a month or so ago in the $30s range in a bet that its path to a deal with Nippon Steel would materialize. CNBC reported this week that Nippon is expected to close acquisition of U.S. Steel at $55 per share.
Business Mayor
25-05-2025
- Business
- Business Mayor
Daniel Loeb's Third Point Investors in deal to create London-listed insurer
Unlock the Editor's Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Billionaire activist Daniel Loeb's Third Point Investors Limited plans to acquire a reinsurance company, in a move that would lead to the creation of a new London-listed insurer for the first time since 2020. London-listed TPIL said on Wednesday that it would acquire Malibu Life Reinsurance, a Cayman Islands-based life and annuity reinsurer that Loeb's New York-based hedge fund Third Point launched last year. The Guernsey-based closed-end fund plans to acquire Malibu in an all-share deal that values Malibu at about $68mn. If the deal is approved by shareholders, TPIL said it would acquire Malibu Life Re from another Loeb vehicle in exchange for the issue of new shares, in what amounted to a reverse takeover. But the stock-for-stock deal has already been hit by opposition from Asset Value Investors Limited, which has a 7 per cent stake in TPIL and which said it planned to vote against the proposal. AVI, a specialist investor in closed-end funds, said in a statement that the planned transaction 'cemented' Third Point Investors' status as 'the poster child for appalling corporate governance'. Third Point declined to comment on the statement from AVI. The UK insurance market has not been immune to the broader dwindling of listings on London's stock market. The takeover would create the first new London-listed insurer created since Bermuda-based reinsurer Conduit Re's initial public offering in late 2020. Rupert Dorey, chair of TPIL, said in a statement that Malibu Life was 'a high-potential reinsurance platform with a robust pipeline of reinsurance and other origination opportunities that will enable it to achieve scale in the near-term'. Saba Capital Management, which had an approximately 1 per cent stake in TPIL, according to TPIL's Wednesday stock exchange filing, said it planned to support the transaction. Saba founder Boaz Weinstein said in a statement: 'We're pleased to see a board of directors responding to the inherent challenges within the UK investment trust market.' TPIL said the deal would give UK investors access to the booming US fixed-annuity market, which has been buoyed by broader market volatility. Athene, the annuity business wholly owned by US private capital group Apollo, has a so-called 'sidecar' reinsurance vehicle in Bermuda that has helped it raise equity capital offshore. JPMorgan said in a recent investor note that the strategy had helped build the insurer into 'the gorilla in the room' in private equity-backed retirement products. Athene earlier this month reported record quarterly inflows of $26bn. TPIL said that Malibu Life had access to a 'robust pipeline' of deals in the sector, including through a reinsurance agreement with a 'blue-chip' US life reinsurer covering about $3bn of premiums. A market participant familiar with the transaction said the US business was Aspida, which is backed by US private credit group Ares Management. Aspida declined to comment. The deal comes as reinsurers in the Cayman Islands, where Malibu Life is based, face growing scrutiny from regulators as well as criticism from US- and Bermuda-based rivals. 'Some companies are now looking to pivot to the Cayman Islands, where the regulatory framework is much less robust, capital requirements are much less defined and there's much more flexibility that companies have,' Marty Klein, Athene's senior adviser and former chief financial officer, told investors on a February call. Read More City watchdog raises concerns over £4bn life insurance market 'We don't think that's healthy for the industry. We think it's actually quite detrimental', he added.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Billionaire Dan Loeb Sold His Fund's Entire Stake in Tesla and Is Piling Into Wall Street's Preeminent Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock
Form 13Fs offer a way for professional and everyday investors to track which stocks Wall Street's smartest money managers purchased and sold in the most recent quarter. Third Point's billionaire chief dumped his fund's entire stake in Tesla in the first quarter -- and it may have to do with more than just profit-taking. Meanwhile, Loeb loaded up on the most direct beneficiary of the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution. These 10 stocks could mint the next wave of millionaires › The month of May has been packed with pivotal data releases. We've had no shortage of earnings reports from influential businesses, a Federal Reserve Open Market Committee meeting, and countless updates on tariff and trade policy from President Donald Trump and his administration. But amid this sea of data, perhaps nothing has been more telling than the filing of Form 13Fs with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). No later than 45 calendar days following the end to a quarter, institutional investors overseeing at least $100 million in assets under management (AUM) are required to file a 13F with the SEC. This filing allows professional and everyday investors to see which stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) Wall Street's leading asset managers bought and sold in the most recent quarter. May 15 marked the filing deadline for 13Fs detailing trading activity for the March-ended quarter. Though Warren Buffett is the most-popular of all money managers, he's far from the only billionaire fund manager known for outsized investment returns. Third Point's billionaire chief Dan Loeb also has quite the following on Wall Street. Loeb closed out the first frame of 2025 with $6.55 billion in AUM which was spread across 45 stocks. But what's particularly noteworthy about Loeb's investing style is his penchant for buying and selling high-growth and widely owned companies. Based on Third Point's latest 13F, Dan Loeb completely kicked North America's electric-vehicle (EV) kingpin Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) to the curb and chose to pile into Wall Street's preeminent artificial intelligence (AI) stock. Although Dan Loeb completely exited nine positions at Third Point during the first quarter, including social media colossus Meta Platforms, the sale of 500,000 shares of Tesla is what stands out most. The reason? Loeb initially purchased 400,000 shares of Tesla during the third quarter of 2024 and tacked on an additional 100,000 shares in the December-ended quarter. Between Jan. 1 and March 31, something changed. This "something" could very well be Tesla's soaring share price. In the wake of President Donald Trump's victory in November and CEO Elon Musk being designated as a "special government employee" for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Tesla stock very briefly doubled. The average stock in Loeb's portfolio has an average hold time of a little over 13 months, so he's not shy about locking in profits. But there may be more to this selling activity than meets the eye. To begin with, there's growing concern that Musk's involvement with DOGE and his numerous other companies and projects are detracting from Tesla's growth potential. Despite continued sales growth from Tesla's energy generation and storage operations, EV revenue plunged 20% in the first quarter from the prior-year period. Moreover, Tesla's vehicle margin has been trending lower for the last two years. Musk noted during his company's 2023 annual meeting that EV demand dictates pricing. A slew of sweeping price cuts for Tesla's fleet (Model's 3, S, X, and Y) confirms that competition is picking up and/or demand for EVs has waned. Even with steep price cuts, Tesla has struggled to keep its EV inventory levels from rising. Another concern is that Tesla's earnings quality is poor. Companies with first-mover advantages should be generating their profits from their products and services. More than half of Tesla's pre-tax income can be traced to automotive regulatory credits, which are given to it for free by governments, and interest income earned on its cash. Without automotive regulatory credits, Tesla would have reported a pre-tax loss in the March-ended quarter. Lastly, Dan Loeb might be out due to Elon Musk's numerous unfulfilled promises. For instance, Tesla's chief has claimed that Level 5 full self-driving is "one year away" for the last 11 years. He also expected 1 million robotaxis on American roadways "next year" in 2019. The cherry on top is that demand for Cybertruck has been well below the initial hype. If these unfulfilled promises are backed out of Tesla's valuation, its stock could have a long way to fall. On the other end of the spectrum, Third Point's 13F shows that Loeb opened 10 new positions during the first quarter. Though he did add a handful of high-yield dividend stocks, such as telecom titan AT&T and consumer health products company Kenvue, which isn't unexpected given the volatility we began witnessing in the stock market late in the first quarter, Loeb's eyebrow-raising purchase is premier AI stock Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA). The last time Third Point's billionaire investor held shares of Nvidia for his fund was the second quarter of 2023. He then sold what's now the equivalent of 5,000,000 shares of Nvidia during the third quarter of 2023, which takes into account Nvidia's 10-for-1 stock split in June 2024. During the first quarter of 2025, Loeb scooped up 1,450,000 shares, which are currently valued at almost $196 million. No company has been a more direct beneficiary of the AI revolution than Nvidia. Its Hopper graphics processing units (GPUs) and Blackwell GPU architecture are the undisputed preferred choice by businesses operating AI-accelerated data centers. Essentially, Nvidia's hardware is the brains behind generative AI solutions and the training of many large language models (LLMs). Nvidia has also been able to take full advantage of AI-GPU scarcity. Even with world-leading chip fabrication company Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing ramping up its chip-on-wafer-on-substrate capacity, Nvidia can't come close to meeting the full demand for its hardware. When demand for a good overwhelms supply, it's perfectly normal the price of that good to climb. Both Nvidia's Hopper and Blackwell GPUs are commanding a premium to competing chips, which has been a benefit to the company's gross margin. Even the CUDA software platform is doing its part to make Nvidia one of Wall Street's most-influential businesses. CUDA is the toolkit developers use to maximize the compute potential of their Nvidia GPUs, as well as build LLMs. More importantly, it's an anchoring tool that's helping to keep clients loyal to Nvidia's ecosystem of products and services. The final piece of the puzzle for Loeb looks to be Nvidia's valuation, which has become considerably more palatable. During the tail-end of March, Nvidia's forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio dipped to around 19, which appears quite inexpensive given the growth rate it's been able to sustain. But Nvidia stock isn't guaranteed to head higher. Every next-big-thing trend for more than three decades has worked its way through a bubble-bursting event early in its expansion. The simple fact that most businesses lack a well-defined AI game plan and aren't generating a profit on their AI investments signals that investors have, once again, overestimated the adoption rate and utility of another game-changing technology. Competition is a genuine concern, as well. As both external and internal competition ramps up, AI-GPU scarcity will diminish. Ultimately, this is bad news for Nvidia's AI-GPU pricing power and its margins. 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Billionaire Dan Loeb Sold His Fund's Entire Stake in Tesla and Is Piling Into Wall Street's Preeminent Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Billionaire Daniel Loeb Is Buying This Oversold Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock -- Should You Be, Too?
Billionaire investor Daniel Loeb took a big stake in Alphabet in the first quarter. He feels the market is missing the big AI advantages that this company has. The stock is trading at an attractive valuation -- presenting an opportunity for investors. 10 stocks we like better than Alphabet › Billionaire Daniel Loeb of Third Point Management is known as a value investor, and last quarter he was picking up shares of beaten-down tech giant Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) (NASDAQ: GOOG). Alphabet's stock is down about 13% year to date as of this writing, as investors worry about the future impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on its search business. However, Loeb has a different view and bought $453 million worth of Alphabet stock in the quarter. Here's why. Loeb wrote exactly why he was buying Alphabet stock in Third Point's first-quarter letter to investors. These investment letters are common in the hedge fund industry and give investors a quarterly update on a fund's investment performance. Portfolio managers will also often highlight a few investment ideas or talk about the current investing or macro environment in these letters. In his letter, Loeb told investors that he made a significant investment in Alphabet in the quarter, while acknowledging the market's worry about AI search and chatbots on Google search. He said that this concern is not entirely unfounded, but that Alphabet has advantages that are being overlooked. The first big advantage Loeb noted that Alphabet has is distribution. While he did not go into the particulars, this can be seen in several areas. First and foremost, the company is currently the default search engine on billions of devices. It provides the operating system for Android devices, which use its search engine. Android is estimated to power around 70% of the world's smartphones. Alphabet also owns the world's most widely used search browser, Chrome, where it is also the default search engine. In addition, it currently has a revenue-sharing search deal to be the exclusive search engine on Apple devices. This gives it access to another nearly 30% of the market not powered by Android. It also has revenue-sharing deals with other browsers, such as Opera. In addition, Alphabet owns one of the world's largest advertising networks. It really can't be underestimated how much time and effort the company has put into developing its local ad presence. While AI companies are still trying to figure out the best way to monetize their offerings, Alphabet can connect advertisers with consumers on everything from a global to a local level. This is a huge monetization advantage over competitors. The second big advantage Loeb said Alphabet has is technology. He noted that some initial Gemini AI model blunders caused investors to forget that Alphabet has been building out its AI capabilities for over a decade. He highlighted that a paper by Google engineers paved the way for the widespread use of large language models (LLMs), while the company has two leading AI research organizations in Google Brain and DeepMind. He believes that Alphabet is close to beginning to monetize Gemini in a meaningful way. As for the impact on Google search, Loeb envisions a world where generative AI takes content creation costs to near zero, leading to more internet content, whether it be articles, entire websites, or video. However, with this increased content, it will become more difficult and expensive for businesses to stand out and attract customers. In a world flooded with low-quality and fake AI-generated content, he thinks Google Search will become even more valuable as a source of truth. Loeb said he is also encouraged by Alphabet's recent cost discipline and how it is taking a tougher stance on employee protests. Back in 2018, Alphabet had canceled a large military AI project, Project Maven, due to employee protests -- and Palantir Technologies would take over the project as a result. While there is a Google search disruption risk, Loeb lays out a nice argument as to why he does not think this will happen and why Alphabet will be an AI winner. I also think it's important to note that traditionally the company only serves ads on 20% of its search queries. Even if AI shrinks overall search queries, it could ultimately make them more valuable to advertisers. At the same time, with its large ad network, Alphabet should also be able to find new ways to monetize things like AI Overviews, expanding its overall search revenue opportunities. And of course, Alphabet is also about much more than search. It also owns the most-watched streaming platform in the world and the third-largest cloud computing business. Cloud computing, in particular, has been a big growth driver for the company, and it is investing heavily to keep up with the growing demand for its services. Its Waymo robotaxi business is also growing rapidly and has the potential to be its next big business. Trading at a forward price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of 17 times 2025 analyst estimates, the stock is in the bargain bin, making it an attractive option to buy at current levels. Before you buy stock in Alphabet, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Alphabet wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. 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Billionaire Daniel Loeb Is Buying This Oversold Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock -- Should You Be, Too? was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio
