Tag: financial news

Department of Finance | Lundquist College of Business

  • 29/04/2023
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Three students walking side-by-side holding laptops and folders talking with each other.

Understanding the complexities of money and investments shape business success and have broad economic implications. An analytical eye is imperative.

The Department of Finance at the Lundquist College of Business has a renowned reputation for research and teaching excellence, bringing complex concepts down to earth and helping students understand the principles of finance and financial stewardship.

Finance faculty publish in the top journals and have garnered high-profile press and awards for their insights and analysis of financial institutions and markets. The department also mentors student investment portfolios and hosts a conference that brings top empirical finance researchers to campus.

From undergraduate to PhD, the Department of Finance offers courses in finance and business economics.

Finance DepartmentNews

Events

Conference

August 3–5, 2023
Eugene, Oregon

The Department of Finance and Cameron Center for Finance and Securities Analysis hosted a summer finance conference biennially.

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Seminars

The department invites faculty members from other universities to present their current research. During the summer months the department also hosts one or two research scholars from other institutions for one or two week stays.

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Workshops

Finance department workshops feature presentations by University of Oregon PhD candidates in an advanced stage. It also gives faculty an opportunity to present work in progress.

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Department Faculty

John Chalmers

Head, Department of Finance | Abbott Keller Professor of Finance

Expertise

  • Household Finance
  • Municipal Bond Markets
  • Mutual Funds
  • Retirement Behavior
  • Transaction Costs

Recent Research

The Finance faculty at the Lundquist College of Business are renowned for their research in key areas.

  • Corporate Governance
  • Institutional Investors
  • Pension Funds and Mutual Funds
  • Cryptocurrencies
  • Venture Capital
  • Private Equity
  • Household Finance
  • Municipal Bond Markets
  • Mutual Funds
  • Retirement Behavior
  • Transaction Costs

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More bank jitters as First Republic probes asset sales, ‘bad bank’ options, source says

  • 29/04/2023
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  • Plans to shrink balance sheets and explore options
  • Deposits in Q1 plunged more than $100 mth vs Q4
  • Shares hit record low
  • Wall Street gears up for more pain ahead

April 25 (Reuters) – First Republic Bank (FRC.N) faces dwindling and tough options to turn around its business with the creation of a ‘bad bank’ or asset sales possibilities, a source familiar with the matter said, after the lender showed the extent of deposit flight during last month’s banking crisis.

The First Republic reported a more than $100 billion plunge in deposits in the quarter in the aftermath of the biggest turmoil to hit the banking sector since 2008. Shares on Tuesday slid to a record low, closing down nearly 50%.

“If someone were to acquire them … there’s going to be some big writedowns that would have to be taken against some of the assets given the rate cycle,” said Christopher Wolfe, head of North American banks at Fitch Ratings, referring to the bank’s mortgage loan book and securities portfolio.

“The options are very challenging and probably very costly, especially for shareholders,” Wolfe said. “Who’s going to bear the cost?”

A ripple effect was felt among other banks and the broader market. Regional bank PacWest Bancorp (PACW.O) fell 9%, Western Alliance Bancorporation (WAL.N) 6%, Zions Bancorp (ZION.O) 5% and brokerage Charles Schwab Corp (SCHW.N) was down 4%. Large banks were also hit with JPMorgan (JPM.N) down 2%.

The KBW Regional Banking Index (.KRX) dropped 4%, the broader S&P 500 bank index (.SPXBK) fell 2.6% and broader markets showed concern with US stocks lower and US Treasury yields falling.

The First Republic said on Monday it was “pursuing strategic options” to quickly strengthen the bank, without providing details.

The lender was studying all options, a person familiar with the matter said on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity because the discussions were private.

The source said the bank wanted the US government to help by convening parties that could buoy San Francisco-based First Republic’s fortunes, including private equity firms and big lenders.

Options include an asset sale of up to $100 billion, a source familiar with the situation said on Tuesday. A second source familiar with the matter said that possible buyers were contacted by advisors for the First Republic with the idea of ​​receiving preferred equity in exchange for buying assets. Bloomberg News earlier reported the chance of asset sales and said buyers might receive incentives such as warrants or preferred equity.

David Chiaverini, analyst at brokerage firm Wedbush Securities said that if First Republic was willing to hand out preferred equity in exchange for selling loans above market value then “it will allow them in a way to sidestep from realizing the losses while at the same time helping to capitalize the bank.”

The bad bank possibility, earlier reported by CNBC, is a crisis-type method of isolating financial assets that have problems. Chiaverini said such a scenario would be a challenge as the bank’s loans and securities are

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New Finance Rich List Led By Ken Griffin, Jeff Yass

  • 28/04/2023
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Step aside, Buffett. Today’s money moguls are moving fast.

From the Medicis to the Morgans, the business of lending, trading or investing money has long been a path to astonishing riches. The largest fortunes go to the risk-takers and innovators who are comfortable at the cutting edge of mainstream finance. To learn how such wealth is built today, Bloomberg Markets identified 25 financial titans* who’ve ascended to the top of the list within the past decade.

This generation of megarich is being powered by computer-driven trading companies, led by Ken Griffin’s Citadel Securities and Jeff Yass’s Susquehanna International Group. Alex Gerko was the UK’s biggest taxpayer last year after his quantitative trading firm XTX Markets paid out a dividend of more than £1.3 billion ($1.6 billion).

Although none of the billionaires on this list have yet surpassed Warren Buffett, the 92-year-old known for his savvy in managing conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway Inc., they represent a new era of financial wealth accumulation. Buffett and private equity moguls such as Blackstone Inc.’s Steve Schwarzman built their fortunes through long-term investments; Griffin, Yass and Gerko have leveraged technology to make superfast decisions about where prices are going, moving in and out of positions in fractions of a second. If you need to worry about where prices are going long term, you’re not doing it right.

Some hedge funds and private equity investors made the list, though they tend to share an interest in buying emerging technology companies. These include Tiger Global Management’s Chase Coleman and Vista Equity Partners’ Robert Smith. (Griffin also founded a hedge fund, Citadel.) Startup founders such as Guillaume Pousaz of Checkout.com and Stripe’s Patrick and John Collison also made the cut. One group that’s absent from the list: women.

The following is derived from Bloomberg’s daily ranking of the world’s billionaires as of March 23. To maintain a focus on the new builders of wealth, the list excludes people who (1) were already among the 300 richest at the end of 2013, (2 ) inherited a significant portion of their fortune, (3) are age 70 or older or (4) have retired from their businesses.

*Actually 26, to include both Collison brothers.

Photos: Bloomberg (23), Jeff Yass: Courtesy Susquehanna International Group, Qi Shi: VCG/Getty Images, John Overdeck: Getty Images.

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AST SpaceMobile to Provide Quarterly Business Update on May 15, 2023 and Provides Preliminary Financial Results for First Quarter 2023

  • 27/04/2023
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MIDLAND, Texas, April 26, 2023–(BUSINESS WIRE)–AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (“AST SpaceMobile”) (NASDAQ: ASTS), the company building the first and only space-based cellular broadband network accessible directly by standard mobile phones, today announced it will hold a quarterly business update conference call on Monday, May 15th at 5:00 p.m. (Eastern Time). The company is also providing its preliminary estimated financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2023.

AST SpaceMobile will be accepting questions from retail and institutional shareholders and management will answer select questions relating to AST SpaceMobile’s business and financial results on the conference call. Investors are encouraged to submit questions to [email protected] and will also be added to our Investor Relations mailing list.

The call will be accessible via a live webcast on the Events page of AST SpaceMobile’s Investor Relations website at https://ast-science.com/investors/. An archive of the webcast will be available shortly after the call.

First Quarter 2023 Preliminary Estimated Financial Results

  • We ended the first quarter with cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash of approximately $185.7 million

  • We expect our total operating expenses including certain non-recurring development and engineering expenses to be between $43.5 and $45.5 million for the first quarter of 2023, including $3.7 to $4.7 million of depreciation and amortization and stock-based compensation expense

  • As of March 31, 2023, we have incurred approximately $92.5 million of capitalized costs (including launch costs and non-recurring engineering costs) related to the assembly, testing and deployment of the BlueWalker 3 (“BW3”) satellite

  • As of March 31, 2023, we have incurred approximately $66.5 million of capitalized property and equipment costs related to the development of assembly, integration, and test facilities in Texas, as well as satellite related purchases including assembly equipment, direct materials and antennas

Our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements for the three months ended March 31, 2023 are not yet available. The preliminary estimated financial results are management estimates based on currently available information and subject to completion of financial closing procedures as of and for the three months ended March 31, 2023. As a result, our actual results may vary materially from the preliminary estimated financial results included herein and will not be publicly available until we file our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2023. These estimates constitute “forward-looking statements” as described in “Forward-Looking Statements” below. Our independent registered public accounting firm, KPMG LLP, has not reviewed, or performed any procedures with respect to these preliminary estimated financial results.

About AST SpaceMobile

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. is building the first and only global cellular broadband network in space to operate directly with standard, unmodified mobile devices based on our extensive IP and patent portfolio. Our engineers and space scientists are on a mission to eliminate the connectivity gaps faced by today’s five billion mobile subscribers and finally bring broadband to the billions who remain unconnected. For more information, follow AST SpaceMobile on YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. Watch this video for an overview of the

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The Business of Prestige TV Finance Bro Merch Is Booming

  • 26/04/2023
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But succession is only one of many popular shows out now about people who make (or work for people who make) millions of dollars a year. HBO also has its sleeper hit Industry, which follows the rowdy young graduates working in the high-stakes environment of fictional London investment bank Pierpoint & Co. In the series, volatile star banker Eric Tao (played by Ken Leung) sometimes swaps out his suit for a bright purple Pierpoint sweatshirt at the office. The hoodie became such a fan favorite—apparently even the late designer and merch connoisseur Virgil Abloh coveted one—that HBO eventually put a version up for sale on its site, albeit with that pesky HBO show logo.

And then there’s Showtime’s long-running hit Billions, where some employees at the fictional hedge fund Ax Capital do, indeed, wear Ax Capital merch on a regular basis. “It’s almost a tribal thing,” the show’s costume designer Eric Daman told Vultures in 2019. “The Wall Street guys all wear these vests, and have such pride in being part of the firm that they’re with.” Sure enough, Showtime sells that vest, too.

“Dollar” Bill Stearn (Kelly AuCoin) rocks his Ax Capital fleece vest on Billions.Courtesy of Jeff Neumann for Showtime

Dollar Bill’s Ax Cap vest or Eric’s Pierpoint hoodie aside, the official prestige TV merch doesn’t feel especially authentic to the shows’ one-center universes. For example, the brand on both the succession and Billions fleece vests is Port Authority, a wholesale apparel retailer that also provides merchandise blanks for, among other institutions, the New York City Police Department. Not that it would necessarily be easy to make official merch with, say, Loro Piana, or even Patagonia, who put a kibosh on companies stitching logos onto its apparel a few years back, in an effort to distance itself from the legions of vest- clad tech and finance bros schlepping through Midtown. But in the spirit of making cheeky finances bro dudes, there’s gotta be another option somewhere for an upgraded dupe.

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