CNBC.com’s Pippa Stevens brings you the day’s top business news headlines. On today’s show, Phil LeBeau breaks down how airlines are calling pilots to work as they prepare for a busier summer schedule now that so many Americans are vaccinated. Plus, Brian Schwartz explains his reporting on the corporate backlash to new voting laws that critics say harm the voting rights of people of color.
Republican state lawmakers in Florida who received corporate support from Disney and other major companies during their campaigns are now sponsoring a slew of bills that could put restrictions on voting access in the key swing state.
The Brennan Center for Justice lists three Florida proposals that it says, in their current form, would amount to voter restrictions. State lawmakers sponsoring these bills have seen contributions from media giants Disney and Charter, prison behemoth the GEO Group, insurance company Geico and trip planner Expedia, along with CenturyLink and other massive corporations. CenturyLink rebranded itself Lumen Technologies in 2020. These companies have so far remained silent on the issue of voting rights.
A Roth Capital analyst says Tesla’s stock is worth $150 — which would be a 78% discount
Tesla’s stock is overvalued and worth only $150, according to Craig Irwin, senior research analyst at Roth Capital, who said the electric carmaker must do more to justify its share price of nearly $700.
Shares of Tesla closed at $691.05 overnight as investors cheered the electric carmaker’s forecast-beating deliveries.
But the possibility of Tesla beating estimates is “clearly already in valuation,” Irwin told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Tuesday. The company’s valuation of around $660 billion is close to the total size of the U.S. and European automotive markets, even though it’s only a “minor player” overall, said the analyst.
Topps to go public through SPAC deal as baseball card company ventures into NFTs
Topps, which is best known for its baseball cards and Bazooka candy line, has agreed to go public through a merger with Mudrick Capital Acquisition Corporation II, a special purpose acquisition company, that values Topps at $1.3 billion.
Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner will stay on as Topps’ chairman. Mudrick Capital and funds and accounts managed by Gamco Investors and Wells Capital Management are expected to invest an additional $250 million in the SPAC. Private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners intends to sell most of its ownership in Topps, but Eisner’s firm The Tornante Company will roll its entire equity stake into the new combined company.
