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Billionaire John Malone is simplifying his media empire by spinning off Liberty Live Group, separating sports and live entertainment businesses. CEO Greg Maffei will step down as Liberty Media undergoes restructuring. The move reflects Malone's efforts to position his businesses for the future as he enters his 80s. The split is expected to be completed in the second half of 2025, with Malone serving as interim CEO. Malone advocates for more media industry consolidation to address competition challenges. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses the need for Carl Icahn's investment vehicle, Icahn Enterprises, to improve its credibility by reevaluating its valuation practices, particularly in relation to a company that makes casings for processed meats. The company has faced financial challenges, including significant losses in stock value and fines for violating disclosure laws. IEP's valuation methods, especially regarding the meat-casing company Viskase, have been criticized for being overly optimistic and not reflective of market realities. The article suggests that IEP should consider using the quoted stock price as a more transparent and accurate measure of the company's value. [Extracted from the article]

SoftBank has announced that its net asset value has surged, largely due to its chip-design unit, Arm. The company has committed to making five investments in artificial intelligence (AI), each worth $1 billion. SoftBank has transitioned its focus to AI after previously being centered on telecommunications and holding a significant stake in Alibaba. Despite experiencing losses in the past three years, SoftBank's net total assets have reached $183.6 billion as of March 31, with Arm accounting for nearly half of the group's assets. The company is betting on the growth of AI and has resumed an active search for investment opportunities. [Extracted from the article]

HSBC Holdings, Europe's largest bank by market value, has agreed to sell its Argentina business to Grupo Financiero Galicia for $550 million. The sale is part of HSBC's ongoing restructuring efforts to simplify its structure and focus on higher-growth areas such as Asia and the Middle East. HSBC expects to take a $1 billion hit from the divestment in the first quarter. Argentina's economy has been facing challenges, including inflation and a depreciating currency. The deal is expected to close within the next 12 months. [Extracted from the article]

The U.S. Embassy in China posted a photo of giraffes on a Chinese social-media platform to highlight animal conservation, but the post quickly became a platform for Chinese investors to express their frustration with the country's struggling stock market. Many individual investors in China have shifted to safer assets or increased their exposure to overseas stocks due to the stock market's four-year decline. The comments on the post ranged from critical to patriotic, reflecting the feelings of China's individual investors who are usually subject to strict social-media controls. China has been censoring critical comments about the economy, and after Weibo started deleting comments on the U.S. Embassy's account, investors shifted their attention to posts made by other embassies, including the Indian and Japanese embassies. The Chinese government has recently made announcements to support the market and boost confidence, and state-linked investors have entered the market to purchase exchange-traded funds and stocks. [Extracted from the article]

Blackstone's property fund, Breit, faced significant investor withdrawals of over $13 billion last year. However, the fund has limited redemptions to avoid having to sell properties quickly. Withdrawals have slowed, and if current trends continue, Breit should be able to meet investors' redemption requests in full in the first quarter of this year. Despite the challenges, Breit outperformed its rivals in terms of investment performance in 2023. However, its resilient valuations may make it difficult to attract investors back if they believe they can find similar properties at lower prices elsewhere. [Extracted from the article]

Chinese individual investors are desperate to shift their money out of the country and are willing to pay a premium to do so. For example, some investors have been buying funds that offer exposure to Japanese stocks at a 20% premium. The frenzy for Japanese and U.S. stocks reflects the difficulty Chinese authorities face in boosting investor sentiment in a stock market that has been declining for years. Chinese investors have also flooded into ETFs tracking the U.S. stock market. Last year, foreign investors pulled out of China's stock market, and individual investors are increasingly joining the exodus. [Extracted from the article]

Nontraded real estate investment trusts (REITs) experienced a significant decline in fundraising and an increase in shareholder redemptions in 2023 due to concerns about the troubled commercial-property market. Nontraded REITs allow individual investors to participate in the income and value increases of commercial properties, and they are known for paying high dividends. However, the imbalance between inflows and redemptions has led to a decrease in the net asset value of nontraded REITs and pressure on sponsors to sell assets. The values of nontraded REIT shares have fallen, but not as much as shares of public REITs, leading to a debate about the accuracy of property valuations. The commercial-property industry is facing challenges such as high interest rates, foreclosures, and declining lending. The appeal of nontraded REITs has also diminished due to the availability of more competitive investment options and concerns about further declines in property values. [Extracted from the article]

Real-estate funds, specifically nontraded real-estate-investment trusts (REITs), have different definitions and measurements for net asset value (NAV), which can lead to issues of comparability and raise questions about the accuracy of their underlying asset performance. While publicly traded REITs have seen a decline in NAV due to rising interest rates, nontraded REITs have shown little volatility. Investors have rushed to sell shares, prompting some funds to restrict redemptions. Nontraded REITs calculate NAV differently, often with the help of outside advisers and appraisers, and their NAV metrics may not reflect their financial condition. The SEC has not taken action against this practice, despite rules prohibiting the use of confusingly similar titles or descriptions for non-GAAP financial measures. [Extracted from the article]

Investors who hold mutual funds in taxable accounts may face a large capital-gains distribution at the end of the year, resulting in potential tax liabilities. This is due to fund managers selling winning holdings to meet redemptions as investors shift towards passive index funds. While this year's distributions are expected to be less severe than last year's, some funds are still projected to pay out more than 10% of their net asset value. Investors can minimize their taxes by researching the fund's distribution plans, considering selling before the payout, and holding off on investing until after the distribution. [Extracted from the article]