Plus, private payrolls grew at their slowest pace since July, the U.K. approved Pfizer and BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine for emergency use, and Ford’s F-150 sales sank 20.9% last month.
Stocks were lower to start Wednesday with the Dow sliding 63 points, or 0.2%. The S&P 500 also dropped 0.2%, while the Nasdaq traded 0.6% lower.
Salesforce bought Slack. In its biggest acquisition in its 21-year history, Salesforce announced late yesterday that it is buying workplace communications platform Slack for over $27 billion in cash and stock. Salesforce is purchasing Slack for $26.79 per share plus -0776 shares of Salesforce, bringing the total to around $45.86 a share. The deal is one of the biggest ever in the software space, and marks the latest in Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff’s multiyear acquisition spree. Benioff said after announcing the acquisition that the company is on its way to doubling revenue. “I have a $50 billion (revenue) dream, which is what I’m shooting for,” Benioff said. “I feel very excited and motivated on everything that we need to do to double the company once again, and to make that happen we have to architect a complete solution” encompassing selling, marketing, service, and integration. “Slack changes everything and makes Salesforce a whole new type of company,” Benioff added. “Customers are rearchitecting how they are working. Now with Slack, it provides this incredible credible windows into a collaborative interface onto all of our services and the whole enterprise itself.”
Private payrolls grew at their slowest pace since July last month as rising coronavirus cases forced a deceleration in business hiring. ADP said today that companies hired 307,000 workers last month, well below the 475,000 expected by economists. The total represented a decline from October’s upwardly revised figure of 404,000, and is the smallest gain since July’s 216,000 hires. “While November saw employment gains, the pace continues to slow,” said Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute. “Job growth remained positive across all industries and sizes.”
The U.K. became the first western country to approve a COVID-19 vaccine. The country’s top regulator authorized the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine for emergency use, and the vaccine will begin rolling out in the country next week. Pfizer Chairman and CEO Dr. Albert Bourla said the authorization is an “historic moment.” “This authorization is a goal we have been working toward since we first declared that science will win, and we applaud the [Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)] for their ability to conduct a careful assessment and take timely action to help protect the people of the U.K.,” Bourla said. “With thousands of people becoming infected, every day matters in the collective race to end this devastating pandemic.” The U.K.’s approval is a surprise given the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is still awaiting approval from EU and U.S. FDA regulators. “The U.K.’s approval will be only one of many, but along with that of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency, it is likely to set the pace for the rest of the world – and for the other vaccines that are awaiting approval,” said Ana Nicholls, managing editor of the Industry Briefing at The Economist Intelligence Unit.
Ford said its F-150 pickup sales slid 20.9% in November due to tight inventory levels caused by plant shutdowns earlier this year due to the coronavirus pandemic as well as production starting for a redesigned model. The reported sales were down 45.9% compared to November 2019. “F-150 inventory continued to tighten as we moved through our Q4 changeover to the all-new F-150,” said Mark LaNeve, Ford vice president of U.s. marketing, sales and service. “This was a result of coronavirus-related production stoppages in Q2 and a strong sell-down of the current model F-150.” The company also attributed the drop in sales to a “renewed focus on stay-at-home policies due to rising coronavirus cases” and one less selling weekend in the month.
And Norwegian Cruise announced this morning that it is extending its suspension of sailing through the end of March for most of its scheduled voyages, dealing another blow to the cruising industry. The company had previously suspended its cruising until December 31, and then again through February 28. The suspension extension through March 31 is among the longest suspensions by any of the major publicly traded cruise operators announced so far, with rivals Carnival and Royal Caribbean announcing suspensions through January 2021. Norwegian CFO Mark Kempa said last month that the company does “not expect a straight line recovery,” adding that it has set aside $300 million for investments in health and safety and the company’s monthly cash burn is expected to rise going forward as it begins to mobilize its fleet and staff in preparation for a gradual return to service.
Stocks We’re Watching
Shutterstock Inc (NYSE: SSTK): Shutterstock announced yesterday that it had launched a new online photo gallery “HIV in View” in collaboration with ViiV Healthcare. Michael Carfagnini, GM Global Shutterstock Studios, said, “ViiV Healthcare’s work in continuing to fight HIV-related stigma until people living with HIV are understood and accepted sparked a unique opportunity for Shutterstock to collaborate through powerful visuals. There is always a need for authentic and fresh imagery accurately depicting what it’s like to live with HIV. At Shutterstock, we strive to empower the world’s storytellers through our content and services such as those offered through our new Studios division enabling brands and agencies to tell their unique stories. This presented an opportunity to prove the effectiveness and adaptability of our global network of contributors who would be tasked with safely depicting this crucial story, in a much more challenging time to do photography and videography with a pandemic limiting production around the world. This project and the various teams involved both at Shutterstock and ViiV Healthcare truly demonstrated the impact passion brings to creative projects, and we saw the same quality from our contributors and people living with HIV featured in the imagery.”