Good morning. In today’s newsletter we will cover:
Google’s decision to call off its $23bn acquisition of Wizz
Swiss wealth manager Julius Baer poaching Goldman Sachs executive Stefan Bollinger
A profile of Englishman Nick Pickles’ rise to the top of X
But first we will unpack Kamala Harris’s first public outing as the presumptive Democratic nominee.
She has now collected enough delegates to secure the party’s nominations according to a tally by the Associated Press, and on Monday received the backing of the former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Other senior Democrats, notably senate majority leader Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, the top Democrat in the House, are yet to throw their weight behind her.
The vice-president was also buoyed by a record $81mn in donations within 24 hours — more than Biden raised in the first two months of his own campaign.
In an address to campaign staffers, Harris vowed to do everything in her power to defeat Donald Trump and pledged to offer Americans a “brighter future” compared with the “chaos, fear and hate” proposed by her Republican rival. Here’s more from her speech.
Who will be her VP?: Speculation has mounted over Harris’s running mate. Here are the top contenders.
What are her policies?: Having supported Biden’s agenda, the vice-president’s own position is less clear-cut. But here’s what we know about where she stands on five big issues.
Scroll down for our chart of the day, which examines the key question with less than four months to go before the election: how does Harris measure up against Trump? And here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today:
Netanyahu in Washington: Biden will host Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House today ahead of the Israeli prime minister’s speech to Congress tomorrow. Harris, who would usually preside over such an address, will miss the speech but will instead meet Netanyahu separately this week.
India: The government will present its budget after Prime Minister Narendra Modi faced demands from his new coalition partners to provide their states with billions of dollars.
Results: Alphabet, Coca-Cola, Comcast, LVMH, Mattel, Moody’s, Tesla, General Motors, Lockheed Martin, Philip Morris International, Spotify and Visa report.
Five more top stories
1. Wiz and Google have called off acquisition talks for a $23bn deal that would have been the largest purchase of a venture-backed company. Buying the Israeli cyber security company would also have been the biggest purchase in Google parent company Alphabet’s history. Here’s what will happen now that the deal has fallen through.
More on Google: Google has U-turned on a decision to remove cookies from its Chrome web browser, ending a four-year effort to protect users’ privacy.
2. The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved its first exchange traded funds for cryptocurrency ethereum. Trading is expected to start as early as Tuesday. The funds could attract about $15bn within their first 18 months according to Matt Hougan, chief investment officer of crypto fund sponsor Bitwise. Read more about the new ether ETFs here.
3. The attempt on Donald Trump’s life was the “most significant operational failure” at the Secret Service in decades, the agency’s director said yesterday. In testimony on Capitol Hill, Kimberly Cheatle said she took “full responsibility for any security lapse” but defied bipartisan calls for her to immediately resign. Here’s more from yesterday’s hearing.
4. US car manufacturers and dealers are slashing prices to offset softening demand. New data shows average incentive packages on new vehicles rose 53 per cent year over year in June, while the share of new cars sold above the manufacturer’s suggested retail price has halved. Here’s why US consumer appetite for cars has dropped.
5. Julius Baer has named Goldman Sachs banker Stefan Bollinger as its new chief. He will take over by February next year. The Swiss wealth manager has been without a boss since February after a $700mn writedown on its exposure to collapsed property group Signa. Read about Julius Baer’s search for its new chief executive here.
News in-depth
After Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, which he remodelled as X, large parts of the social media company’s original workforce were laid off. But Nick Pickles, a 40-year-old former music photographer from the UK managed to stay, and he has quietly risen to become a trusted confidant of both Musk and of X chief Linda Yaccarino. Some of his current and former colleagues speculate he could even take over the top job.
We’re also reading . . .
Chart of the day
With Kamala Harris now the heavy favourite to replace Joe Biden as the Democratic party’s presidential candidate, the big question is: can she beat Trump? The vice-president is polling behind the former president — for now.
Take a break from the news
The Olympics, which start this Friday, already has one winner: LVMH. With bottles of Moët and Louis Vuitton trunks never far from sight, the Parisian conglomerate’s brands have already made their mark on the Games.
Additional contributions from Tee Zhuo and Benjamin Wilhelm
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