China's Economy 🇨🇳 Continues Struggling Amid Covid Lockdowns 🔒
Scott D. Clary | Daily Business, Tech & Finance Newsletter
Scott D. Clary
August 22, 2022
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Here’s whats happening:
- China’s Economy Continues Struggling Amid Covid Lockdowns
- Snap gives up on its selfie drone
- Robinhood re-negotiates its Ziglu acquisition deal
- Aero Technologies raises $65 million in funding
- wWebMD Acquires JIM.fr
China’s Economy 🇨🇳 Continues Struggling Amid Covid Lockdowns 🔒
China’s economy struggled to get back on its feet last month amid fresh Covid flare-ups.
Key Stats:
- Retail sales 🛍 grew at a slower-than-expected pace of 2.7%.
- Fixed-asset investment gained 5.7% in the first seven months of the year, which is comparatively lower 🔻 than the 6.2% projected by economists.
- Although China’s industrial production rose 3.8% compared to the figures a year ago, it was still lower 🔻 than June’s 3.9%. Besides, it missed economists’ forecast of a 4.3% increase.
What does this mean? 🤔
While several countries across the world 🌎 have started to learn to live with coronavirus, the world’s second-largest economy 🇨🇳 is still refusing to do anything about it.
This denial led to a wave of new restrictions across the country in July, denting both consumer and business spending.
Why should we care? For markets
As the news emerged, China’s key stock index fell sharply ⏬, showing how its pandemic restrictions are setting it apart from other major economies.
Snap Gives up on Its Selfie 🤳 Drone
Snap is reportedly giving up on its neat little Pixy drone just four months after announcing it.
The timeline:
- Snap introduced its easy-to-use selfie drone Pixy in April 2022
- Designed to be a drone that anyone could use, the Pixy is an approachable flying device that fits in the palm of your hand 🤳.
- With Pixy, users could create content as the drone follows four preset flight paths
- The drone is made to sync with the Snapchat app so users can easily share what they filmed
Excellent features! Right? Well, the company has decided to discontinue the device now.
Why is Snap discontinuing the device?
The Pixy is reportedly collateral damage from the economic downturn. Snap is also undergoing a reprioritization of company resources following deep stock price losses this summer.
Robinhood Re-negotiates Its Ziglu Acquisition Deal 💰
Stock and crypto trading platform Robinhood has reportedly scored a steep discount on its acquisition offer made to Ziglu, citing poor market conditions.
Robinhood’s acquisition of Ziglu is part of its plans to make headway in the UK market 🇬🇧.
The deal:
- Robinhood has reportedly scored a 58% cut on its $170 million offer ✂️ to buy crypto exchange Ziglu.
- The initial offer from Robinhood came in April.
- However, the company revised its offer to $72.5 million after citing adverse market conditions.
Why is Robinhood revising the deal?
Robinhood is said to have cited several factors, including the bear market, the implosion of several major centralized crypto lenders, and other macroeconomic factors such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
What’s next?
While Ziglu has not yet accepted the revised offer from Robinhood, it may still accept the offer considering it to be the best and only reasonable path forward for the company.
Aero Technologies Raises $65 Million in Funding 💰
Private jet company Aero Technologies has raised $65 million in its Series B funding round. The funding values Aero at $300 million.
The investors
The funding was co-led by Albacore Capital Group, Expa, and Keyframe Capital. New investors Capital One Ventures also participated in the round.
About Aero Technologies
Aero Technologies describes itself as a next-generation air travel company, which currently operates on a limited number of routes in the U.S. and Europe. Unlike other private jet services, Aero aims to stand out by focusing on connecting millennials with destinations that offer Instagram-worthy experiences.
The company offers luxury air travel services across North America and Europe, with destinations including Aspen, Colorado; Sun Valley, Idaho; and Los Cabos, Mexico.
How will Aero use the funding? 🤔
Aero plans to use the new funding to expand into new markets and to serve its demand on existing routes.
WebMD Acquires JIM.fr
WebMD Health Corp., a leader in health information services for physicians, other healthcare professionals & consumers, has acquired JIM.fr, a leading medical news, information & education platform in France.
The financial terms of the deal are not disclosed.
How will the acquisition help WebMD?
The acquisition combines the core competencies of JIM.fr with that of Medscape, WebMD’s flagship global brand for healthcare professionals (HCPs). With the addition of JIM.fr, Medscape will deepen its commitment to French and French-speaking HCPs.
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