The biggest tech news you missed over Thanksgiving
November 30, 2020
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Good morning, Term Sheet readers. I’m glad to be back from Thanksgiving break, when I finally gave up trying to like turkey and opted for lasagna.
Much like lasagna (forgive the pun), the news layered on over the long U.S. holiday as investors continued to take advantage of these strange market conditions to IPO or merge with other businesses.
Here are five things you need to know to jumpstart your week:
(FINANCIAL) DATA IS EVERYTHING: In a mega Monday merger, S&P Global agreed to acquire market data provider IHS Markit for an eye-popping $44 billion, including $4.8 billion in debt. The transaction will be completed entirely in S&P Global stock. Meanwhile, the London Stock Exchange is seeking clearance for its plans to acquire data provider Refinitiv for $27 billion.
AIRBNB AND DOORDASH SEEK EVEN HIGHER VALUATIONS: Airbnb, which was valued at $31 billion in 2017 before succumbing to the pandemic with an $18 billion tag earlier this year, has recovered surprisingly quickly and may be seeking a valuation of $30 billion to $33 billion in its roadshow this week, the Wall Street Journal reports. And DoorDash is now seeking a valuation of $25 to $28 billion, after being last valued at $16 billion in private markets. Read more.
OH, COINBASE: On Sunday, the New York Times published an article based on conversations and documents from 23 current and former Coinbase employees alleging racism and discrimination against Black employees. Coinbase sought to get ahead of the story, releasing a statement saying, “We expect the story will paint an inaccurate picture that lacks complete information and context.” But it is worth noting: About 3% of the company’s employees are Black—less than half the average of the rest of the tech industry. Read more.
SALESFORCE-SLACK TALKS: Late last week, reports emerged that Salesforce was in talks to acquire Slack for over $17 billion. Salesforce shares have soared this year—making for valuable M&A currency—while Slack’s work-from-home boost teetered in recent months as investors worried about competition from Microsoft. A deal could come as soon as this week.
TONY HSIEH DIES AT 46: On Friday, Tony Hsieh, the former CEO of Zappos.com, died after being injured from a house fire in Connecticut. The Harvard graduate joined the online shoe company in 1999 and saw it through its sale to Amazon in 2009 for $1.2 billion and only retired as its CEO earlier this year. He was known for his management experiments that were hailed both wacky and visionary.
Lowercase Capital’s Chris Sacca wrote on Twitter, “Tony Hsieh might be the most original thinker I’ve ever been friends with. He questioned every assumption and shared everything he learned along the way. He genuinely delighted in making anyone and everyone happy. The earth has lost a beautifully weird and helpful person. RIP.”
“My favorite Tony Hsieh memory was watching him beat us all breezily in poker and then give our money to the dealers and servers as tips,” tweeted Mark Pincus, co-founder of Zynga. “I will miss his quiet smiling confidence.”
Lucinda Shen
Twitter: @shenlucinda
Email: lucinda.shen@fortune.com
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