HUNG DEAL Definition & Legal Meaning
thelawdictionary.org

... When an underwrite buys unsold securities and than sells them at a discount. This is also called a sticky or stuck deal. ...

Then there's this...

Elon Musk's Twitter buy: Add bankers to the list of victimswww.fastcompany.com

.. When Elon Musk decided to buy Twitter, he enlisted the help (and financial assistance) of seven major banks to back his offer, ultimately securing loans of $13 billion. It seemed a good bet for the financial institutions at the time.

Musk, after all, had a history of success with businesses -- and banks tend to sell that sort of debt, clearing their balance sheet and moving onto the next loan.

Those banks, however, haven't been able to sell the debt, in part because of the financial performance of Twitter, which is now known as X, and in part because of higher interest rates.

And while interest payments have been made, the principal of the loans remains.

That's causing problems.

Musk paid $44 billion for the social media site in October 2022. As of March 31, the holding has lost an estimated 71.5% of its value -- and the underperformance of those loans, reports the Wall Street Journal, is the worst the banking industry has seen since the real estate crisis of 2008.

In banking parlance, the loans are "hung," meaning banks can't offload them.

Pitchbook data, cited by the Journal, says they've been hung longer than every other hung loan since 2008.

They could, in some instances, be sold at a loss, but if Musk does ultimately repay them, the banks would not only recoup their initial investment, but interest payments that were set several points higher than what other investment companies are normally charged, due to the excessively high purchase price. (Annual interest payments total about $1.5 billion.) ...

Banks Still Stuck with $13 Billion in Risky Loans from Musk's LBO of Twitter 22 Months Ago, Possibly the Longest Hung Deal of this Size Ever
wolfstreet.com

... When Elon Musk bought Twitter in a leveraged buyout for $44 billion in October 2022 -- after he'd walked away from the deal, after which Twitter had sued him to force him to stick to the deal -- he and other investors put in about $30 billion, and the acquiring holding company borrowed another $13 billion in junk-rated variable-rate high-risk loans from seven banks. Those banks had intended to sell those leveraged loans right away because they're too risky to carry on their balance sheet.

But that was 22 months ago, and the banks are still stuck with those loans and haven't been able to sell them without taking massive losses on them.

The seven banks are Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Barclays, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), BNP Paribas, Mizuho, and Socit Gnrale. Obviously, doing business with the richest man in the world and getting a foot into the door with his six companies, and perhaps an IPO or two, such as SpaceX or Starlink, and the fee bonanza that would come with them, were huge incentives to engage in this risky deal.

This loan package has now turned into the biggest hung deal by dollar amounts of all times, Steven Kaplan, a finance professor at the University of Chicago who has tracked such deals since the 1980s, told the WSJ. ...

Trump campaign insists it had right to use Foo Fighters song, despite band's angry reaction
www.yahoo.com

... Donald Trump's campaign says it had a license to play Foo Fighters hit track "My Hero" at a rally in which the former president received the endorsement of political rival-turned-backer Robert F Kennedy Jr, despite the band saying they did not grant permission.

The Independent has seen documents appearing to confirm that the campaign had indeed licensed the song from BMI's Songview service. "We have a license to play the song," a campaign spokesperson said.

Kennedy, who suspended his campaign as an independent presidential candidate on Friday, joined Trump onstage in Arizona, as pyrotechnics blasted and the Foos song played.

In a statement shared with The Independent, a spokesperson for Foo Fighters said: "Foo Fighters were not asked permission, and if they were, they would not have granted it.

The spokesperson added that "appropriate actions are being taken" against the Trump campaign and any royalties received as a result of this usage will be donated to the Harris/Walz campaign. ...

Message to Starbucks support partners: Returning to each other and to the office (January 2023)
stories.starbucks.com

... Partners,

Since I returned last April, I've had conversations with many of you about our principles and aspirations for our company.

Three ideas"in some form or another"come up again and again to describe Starbucks:

Connection through coffee

Nurturing belonging, joy, love

Starbucks can be a feeling, a safe haven, a true Third Place

These are powerful descriptions of why we work here. For Starbucks to be linked to any of them as an idea, as a place of work or as a community of partners is an awesome responsibility.

And all of us, no matter what your role is in the company, are stewards of these ideas.

IN SERVICE OF ONE ANOTHER AS GREEN APRON PARTNERS

I want to share a change in our policy about hybrid work consistent with our past, but boldly about our future. Before I do, let me share context.

The pandemic was a full-out attack on the ideas that make Starbucks, Starbucks. It disrupted human connection. It made the world harder for so many. And it threatened our ability to be a safe haven and a Third Place.

At the SSC and across our regional offices, we had the privilege and the ability to pivot to virtual work. Most of us stopped coming into the office"at first, because of safety, and to protect ourselves and our loved ones. As days stretched into weeks, many of us claimed new freedoms, pioneered new ways of working, achieved new productivity.

But many partners didn't have that privilege. They had to keep coming into their workplace"our stores, our plants, our distribution centers"day after day. They faced the hardship. They faced the challenges in their communities"deeply, passionately and often with great heroics.

Today, when we talk with our store partners, we hear how much they need us. As the nation comes out of the pandemic, they want to thrive, not just survive. We need to support them better. We need to simplify their jobs. We need to dive even deeper into each store and every store to support partners the way they need us to, now.

I believe they are asking support partners to be better integrated, showing up as one team, working to be not just a little better but profoundly better. They are asking us to do the transformative work that I believe can only be done effectively when we are physically together"the kind of thinking, daring collaboration, courageous conversations that cannot be done on Teams calls, or in just pre-scheduled meetings, or just as transactions.

Partners, it's time for us to come back to the office"to do this Mission-critical work face-to-face, and in person. It's time we rebuild and revive the energy of the SSC and our regional offices as thriving, active hubs. ...

Isaac Hayes estate sues Trump campaign over use of song
www.independent.co.uk

French artist Woodkid calls out Donald Trump for illegal use of (LGBT+) song
www.euronews.com

... Donald Trump seems hell-bent on (illegally) using Woodkid's song 'Run Boy Run'. However, proving once more that the presidential nominee has no idea what he's doing, the track is an LGBT+ anthem that clashes with MAGA stances.

French singer-songwriter and video director Woodkid has already asked for Donald Trump to stop using one of his songs during campaign rallies. But the message, first sent last December, seems to have fallen on deaf ears. ...

"Electric Avenue" Singer Files Suit Against Trump Campaign for Copyright Infringement
www.hollywoodreporter.com

Sinead O'Connor's Estate & Label Slam Donald Trump's Use of Nothing Compares 2 U' at Campaign Events
www.billboard.com