Good
Buzzard's Roost - The documentary "Weiner" - which chronicles former Congressman Anthony Weiner's texting scandal that plagued the 2013 New York Mayoral bid - opened atop of what is called the specialty box office this weekend. Also, the "Angry Birds" movie was the top-grossing movie at the big box theaters this weekend. Do we deserve this election or what?
Hot - Stanford was glad to name the new dean and put some academic drama behind them. Levin, at the age of 43, succeeds Garth Saloner, who announced in September he would step down from his post as dean in the face of a lawsuit from a former professor alleging that he was wrongfully terminated and subjected to harassment by the dean, who had begun a romantic relationship with his wife. Saloner had served as dean since 2009. MarketWatch
Finally, Some Daylight - Exxon will hold its annual meeting tomorrow morning in Dallas, and shareholders will vote on a resolution to explain its future, which has nothing to do with stock price or board of directors' pay.
The resolution forces Exxon Mobil to publicly reveal the risks of climate change to its business, in effect agreeing to the principle that climate change is real. The shareholder resolution calls for Exxon Mobil to publish an annual assessment of the impact of climate change and also give shareholders a bigger say over climate change governance in the company.
The resolution is being orchestrated by large institutional investors and hedge funds, and it's not all politics. The investors are saying Exxon's decision to stay out of climate change politics is equivalent to putting your hand in the sand when the International Energy Agency projects fossil fuel demand will drop by 22 percent in 2040 - boy, I hope they're wayyy under.
Exxon Mobil's internal business projections show global demand for fossil fuels will actually increase by 13 percent in 2040. Exxon Mobil tried to block the climate change resolution, but in March Securities and Exchange Commission ruled against Exxon Mobile, setting a huge precedent in the 3-way intersection of activist investor, politics and business. NYTimes
M&A - The buzz is at a high frequency this morning with second-round offers due for Yahoo the first week of June. Here is the scoop - the first round bids are in and the PR spin from the buy and sell side were humming.
First, the sell side is hyper over Buffet being a bidder - a lot of puffery here as it appears Buffet might only assist another investor, Dan Gilbert, with a financial instrument to bank the deal. The sellers also have been throwing around numbers like the bids would be in the $4 billon to $8 billion range, and now the buyers are talking numbers around $2 to $3 billion.
If Yahoo sells - and there is nothing written in stone that it will - my guess is that it will be Bain Capital and Vista Equity partners alongside former interim Yahoo CEO Ross Levinson for somewhere south of $5 billion.
Verizon is still by far the favorite on Wall Street to want to buy Yahoo, but does Verizon really need this headache with the Department of Justice plus the Union looking over their shoulders and asking why? Reuters
Economics - Snapchat Is Reportedly Seeking $20 Billion Valuation In New Fundraising - The messaging app Snapchat is seeking and, from my view, will get a valuation north of $20 billion in its efforts to raise $200 million more for the company.
With Twitter facing user growth pressure, Snapchat is considered the only real threat to Facebook. As Caleb showed at the Entrepreneur briefing last Friday, Facebook has come out with a new feature called Facebook Live that competes with the Snapchat live video function. Fortune
Culture - Lyft Inc. is planning to let people book rides as early as 24 hours in advance, an experiment not only in scheduling, but pricing.
The company will begin its test in the coming weeks in San Francisco before rolling it out to other cities over the summer. Lyft will not say which cities would be part of the experiment, and there is no extra cost for scheduling in advance. This is obviously a tactic to get Uber to change and chase them. I wouldn't bet on it. MarketWatch
Tuesday's Waterfront View of Best Deals
Exits - Silver Lake and TPG Capital have hired Goldman Sachs to find a buyer for Avaya Inc., a Santa Clara, Calif.-based maker of telecom equipment, according to Reuters. Avaya has been in registration for an IPO since 2011, and currently has around a $6 billion debt load. The sale price, per Reuters, could be between $6 billion and $10 billion (including the debt).
Venture Capital - Rock Pamper Scissors, a London-based hairdresser booking app, has raised 1.2 million in seed funding from 500 Startups and Seedcamp.
Investment Banking - Permira has agreed to acquire a majority stake in New York-based salon and haircare products company John Masters Organics Inc., plus Styla Inc., the exclusive distributor of John Masters products in Japan and East Asia, for approximately $336 million.
Safe Fleet, a Belton, Mo.-based portfolio company of The Sterling Group, has acquired Rear View Safety, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based provider of back-up camera systems and video-based road safety solutions.
Sun Capital Partners has acquired Admiral Petroleum Co. & Lemmen Oil Co., a Coopersville, Mich.-based gas station and convenience store business.
Private Equity - 10bis, an online food ordering marketplace and payment platform in Israel, has raised an undisclosed amount of private equity funding from TA Associates.
IPO - Viamet Pharmaceuticals Holdings, a Durham, N.C.-based developer of inhibitors of validated metalloenzymes, has withdrawn registration for an IPO that was to have sold 5.7 million shares at between $14 and $16 per share. Fortune Term Sheet
And that's what's ahead, Cliff
