Eugene Scalia: Big Law’s New Superstar

A few tips to get you started: BCG admitted paying millions of dollars in bribes to win business in Angola and agreed to forfeit more than $14 million in profits from contracts it won with the country’s economy ministry and central bank.

And carefully watched earnings results: Nvidia’s revenue more than doubled from last quarter, continuing the process of US chip production growth and beating consensus estimates. Shares fell as much as 8 percent in after-market trading in New York despite the strong results.

In today’s newsletter:

• Corporate America’s New Favorite Lawyer

• Berkshire Hathaway tops $1 trillion

• 7-Eleven weighs how to block a hostile takeover

Scalia redux: Big Law’s new heavyweight

There are plenty of policies that America’s top companies are eager to fight these days.

The Biden the administration has worked relentlessly to strengthen regulations and reduce what it sees as over-the-top by corporate America. This crystallized in the non-compete proposal and in Securities and Exchange Commissionprivate funds rule and climate disclosure regulations.

There Eugene Scalia come in Gibson Dunn the lawyer has a moment in defense of the largest industrial groups and companies in the US at a time when the government has tried to increase surveillance.

It’s not a coincidence either. It is the second child recently Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scaliaand he in turn took up his father’s intellectual mantle as a critic of powerful government agencies.

He took his father’s legal ethos and ran with it – building a profitable legal practice around the philosophy.

Some of its biggest clients include Walmart, Boeing, MetLife and a suite of powerful business groups including US chamber of commerceTHE Association of Managed Funds and the Business round table.

To the chair SEC Gary Gensler and US Federal Trade Commission head Lina KhanTo his dismay, Scalia was on a winning streak.

He took advantage of pro-business judges, successfully challenging the private funds rule and the noncompete.

And Scalia also leaned on knowing the inner workings of the federal government. He had two stints at the labor department – ​​most recently as under secretary Donald Trump.

While clients praise him — describing him as a “phenomenal adviser” and a “genuinely nice guy” — his aggressive tactics defending some of the country’s most powerful have also earned him a fair share of enemies.

“Scalia will make $1 billion representing the industries,” said a Washington lawyer at a rival law firm. “It’s oil and gas, tobacco, alcohol, firearms. . . Everyone is looking for a lawyer to fight the government.”

Berkshire Hathaway joins the $1 trillion club

Warren Buffett told a documentary crew in 2017 that he orders his daily breakfast at McDonald’s it often came down to how prosperous he felt.

If the markets were up and his portfolio was doing well, he might opt ​​for a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich. At $3.17, it was his most expensive option. Tomorrow, if Buffett makes it to the Golden Arches, DD suspects he’ll be in trouble.

His sprawling conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway became the first publicly traded US company outside the technology sector to be valued above $1 trillion, joining a club long dominated by the likes of Amazon and Microsoft.

Investors have sent Berkshire shares up nearly 30 percent this year, buying even as Buffett himself opted to divest his holdings, including half of his stake in Apple. This took the group’s cash pile to a record $277 billion. Buffett said this year that he prefers the yield on short-term Treasuries to what he might find in stocks.

Buffett has turned the conglomerate over the past six decades into a financial force that touches nearly every corner of the U.S. economy.

The business now includes not only a $285 billion stock portfolio, but Duracell batteries, Geico insurer, ice cream supplier Dairy Queen and the paint Benjamin Moorealong with dozens of other companies.

Berkshire’s valuation has seen serious gains this year alone, with its market cap rising by more than $200 billion. Since 1965, when Buffett took over the company, he has followed a remarkably similar strategy.

“The first (rule) is don’t lose money,” he said Jeff Muscatelloa research analyst at Berkshire Investor Douglass Winthrop. “The second is to not forget rule number one and let the laws of combination work for an incredibly long period of time.

7-Eleven owner struggles to protect himself

In Japan, the convenience store chain 7-Eleven is loved Populated in almost every corner of the country’s cities, it can even seem like a necessity.

So it may come as no surprise that its Japanese owner, Seven & i Holdingsis considering ways to protect itself from a foreign bidder after a Canadian group eating Couche-Tard made an unsolicited bid for the company earlier this month.

But while 7-Eleven is a hallmark of Japanese life, protected status would involve applying for the same status as companies in the nuclear and semiconductor sectors – not quite the same as a shop-where retailer Kirin beer or Meiji treat

The tactic would involve changing the government’s designation of the group to “core” status from “non-core” under Japan’s statute. Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act. Two people close to the talks said it was just one of the options discussed.

It’s a high bar. 7-Eleven would have to convince the government that its stores are critical infrastructure in the event of a natural disaster — and that it would be somehow hampered by foreign ownership.

Seven & i has created a special committee to review the offer, which, if successful, would be the largest Japanese takeover by a foreign buyer. Seven & i has a market capitalization of over $38 billion.

If 7-Eleven succeeds in persuading the government to upgrade its status to “core”, Couche-Tard – or any potential foreign buyer – would face the additional hurdle of being vetted by the finance ministry.

The job is moving

• Barclays hired Martin Douglass as Head of Financial Sponsor M&A in New York. He most recently worked at Morgan Stanley as general manager for M&A.

• Goldman Sachs hired Tyler Miller as partner in natural resources investment banking and global co-head of energy, utilities and infrastructure, according to an internal memo. He most recently worked for City Group in a similar role.

Smart readings

Expenses Tether is in trouble doing business. But the German investor that helps facilitate investments has had mixed results, The Wall Street Journal reveals.

Copper hunting After failing to acquire Anglo American, mining giant BHP has been on the hunt to build its copper exposure. That’s proving difficult, Lex writes.

Capital call center As the world worries about when AI will start replacing white-collar jobs, the outsourcing sector in the Philippines is already coping with this new reality, Bloomberg reports.

Presenting the news

Goldman Sachs wins reduction in capital requirements in stress test (FT) challenge

Two Sigma founders step down as co-CEOs after years of acrimony (FT)

Telegram CEO charged in France over alleged criminal activity on messaging app (FT)

EU investigates Telegram over user numbers (FT)

Thames Water hits back at regulators with call for further bill rise (FT)

India’s watchdog approves $8.5 billion Disney-Reliance ( FT ) entertainment merger

Super Micro slips 10K late after Hindenburg report (Bloomberg)

‘Obscenely greedy’ oil executives sentenced to Swiss prison for role in 1MDB fraud (FT)

City whistleblower sacked after raising concerns about Chinese spying wins £560,000 (FT)