DealBook Briefing: Could General Electric Be Dropped From the Dow?
• Gillian Tan writes, “Despite the $20 billion price tag, the deal seems like a bargain.” (Gadfly)
• Lex writes, “Any spinoff would put paid to the Thomson family’s decade-long hopes for combining a media business with financial services.” (Lex)
• The trial in Waymo’s lawsuit accusing Uber of stealing its driverless car technology is set to start today.
Blackstone’s $20 billion deal (including debt) for control of the company’s financial
and risk division highlights the growing ambitions of private equity firms — and how they need to spend nearly $1 trillion in uninvested capital.
“The committee reportedly prefers for the Dow to incur no more than a 10:1 ratio
between the component companies’ highest share price and lowest share price.
“We are excited to partner with Thomson Reuters — one of the most trusted companies
in financial technology,” Martin Brand of Blackstone said in a statement.
He said he would bring Republicans and Democrats together around a $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan to “give us the safe, fast, reliable
and modern infrastructure our economy needs and our people deserve.”
Mr. Trump offered few details on his infrastructure proposal.