With the number of shell companies going public reaching a record level in the past two quarters, now billionaire Michael Bloomberg also plans to list his media empire through SPAC.
New York Post reported on Tuesday that several sources said that Michael Bloomberg, the founder of Bloomberg, had been in talks with an entity controlled by hedge fund tycoon Bill Ackman, and he recently accepted the proposal to sell a minority stake in Bloomberg to Ackman's $5 billion shell company. According to reports, Ackerman may acquire a 2% stake in Bloomberg for $12 billion.
If the transaction is finally concluded, it means that Bloomberg's shares will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and Bloomberg will also cash out without giving up control. Bloomberg is a world-renowned financial information organization with an annual income of about $1 billion, which was founded by Michael Bloomberg in 1981. At present, the founder owns 88% of the company's shares.
The potential reason for seeking to sell shares may be that Bloomberg wants to fulfill his donation promise. In 21, Warren Buffett, Bill and Melinda Gates launched a global initiative "giving pledge" to encourage the richest individuals and families in the world to devote most of their wealth to charity to solve the most pressing social problems. Participants in this activity include Michael Bloomberg and Ackerman.
: What are the factors that affect the listing?
1. The asset-liability ratio of the company to be listed is too high and the debt structure is unreasonable. Compared with the data of the same industry, the asset-liability ratio of the company to be listed shall not be much higher than the average level of the industry. The debt structure is unreasonable and there are great risks. If the current liabilities account for too much, the direct consequence is the increase of financial expenses. The irrationality of debt structure is also reflected in the short-term debt repayment pressure of the company, which may cause the risk of liquidity shortage of the company.
2. The ownership structure is unreasonable. Although the ownership structure is not a hard indicator in the audit of A-share IPO, if the ownership structure is too concentrated, it will easily cause the audit committee to worry about the company's future business decisions. This situation is not conducive to the optimization of the company's human resources allocation and the standardization of the board of directors' governance structure. It is easy for the controller to take advantage of the integration of ownership and management rights to master the internal information to manipulate the board of directors and harm the interests of other small and medium investors.