GENSLER BIDS FAREWELL TO TRADING COMMISSION Â |Â Gary Gensler, who steps down on Friday as chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, leaves his agency at an inflection point, Ben Protess reports in DealBook. His aggressive streak thrust the once-obscure agency into the front lines of reform, but it also maddened colleagues and complicated his legacy. Now, Wall Street is hoping for a friendlier regulator.
Mr. Gensler and his successor, the Treasury department official Timothy G. Massad, might bear little resemblance (apart from their slender frames and retreating hairlines). Mr. Massad could take a more conciliatory stance than Mr. Gensler, who had his finger on every button and has been called “a force of nature,†according to Mark Wetjen, a commissioner at the agency who occasionally sparred with him. Mr. Massad, who oversaw the winding down of the bank bailouts, will face renewed pressure from Wall Street lobbyists and congressional Republicans.
“There’s no question Wall Street sees an opening to roll back reform,†said Dennis M. Kelleher, the head of Better Markets, an advocacy group. “But Massad is no fool; he knows he’s going to be judged by the very high standards set by Gary Gensler.†At the time of Mr. Massad’s appointment, Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew praised him as “determined to pursue reform that safeguards and advances the interests of hard-working Americans.†President Obama added, “I have every confidence that he is the right man to lead an agency designed to prevent future crises.â€
Mr. Protess writes: “But further underscoring the uncertainty surrounding the agency, Mr. Gensler’s exit will be followed within weeks by the departure of Bart Chilton, a fellow Democratic commissioner who is an even harsher critic of Wall Street. Sharon Bowen, a corporate lawyer who represents private equity firms and other financial institutions, is poised to take Mr. Chilton’s spot. Still, a Wall Street résumé does not necessarily translate into deregulation. By most measures, Mr. Gensler would have been an unlikely reformer.â€
CYBERSECURITY FIRM FIREYE BUYS MANDIANT Â |Â FireEye, a security software provider, has acquired the cyberforensics firm Mandiant in a deal worth more than $1 billion, Nicole Perlroth and David E. Sanger report in The New York Times. The acquisition, the largest security deal of 2013, has broad implications for digital security and comes at a time when corporate America has become increasingly dissatisfied with relying on the federal government to monitor the Internet for incoming attacks.
“After the Snowden events, in the current political climate, no one can say to the government, ‘Please, come on in and monitor our networks,’†said Kevin Mandia, the founder of Mandiant who will become chief operating officer of the combined company.
Mandiant is known for sending in emergency teams to respond to computer network breaches, including an infiltration of The New York Times’ computer systems by Chinese hackers. FireEye uses novel technology to isolate incoming traffic in virtual containers and look for suspicious activity before letting traffic through. The merger, which unites detection and response, could form a formidable competitor to existing antivirus giants like Symantec and Intel’s McAfee.
OPTIMISM FOR I.P.O.’S IN 2014  | The coming year may not prove as rich for initial public offerings as 2013, but bankers still see an abundance of opportunity in the next 12 months, DealBook’s Michael J. de la Merced writes. That could include the market debut of Alibaba, the Chinese Internet behemoth, which may be one of the biggest I.P.O.’s in years.
The business of taking companies public soared last year, even as global merger activity had a lackluster showing. The amount raised in I.P.O.’s in the United States jumped 40 percent from 2012, to $59.3 billion, according to data from Thomson Reuters. Overall activity in equity capital markets banking totaled nearly $797 billion for the year, up 27 percent and one of the best years in recent memory. Fees for bankers in the field rose 34 percent from the previous year, to $17.9 billion.
Mr. de la Merced writes: “Advisers are quick to caution that such a run â€" one with a number of big stock market debuts, like those of Hilton Worldwide, the animal health company Zoetis and, of course, Twitter â€" will be hard to duplicate. But as long as the economy holds up, so will the stock markets, prompting private companies to look to share sales to raise money.â€
ON THE AGENDA Â |Â Ben S. Bernanke, the outgoing Federal Reserve chairman, speaks to the American Economic Association in Philadelphia at 2:30 p.m. Dave DeWalt, the chief executive of FireEye, is on CNBC at 6:50 a.m. New York City public schools are closed and all subway trains are running local, not express, through this snowy morning.
SNOW DAY  | A storm pummeled the New York region overnight, blanketing the city with snow and delivering howling winds and frigid temperatures. The storm, which had already dumped more than a foot of snow in some parts of the Midwest, brought the first test for the new mayor, Bill de Blasio. On Thursday, Mr. de Blasio said the city was “ready for whatever hits us,†James Barron and Steven Yaccino report in The New York Times. As the city’s public advocate, Mr. de Blasio had criticized his predecessor Michael R. Bloomberg’s response after a storm in late 2010 â€" nicknamed the “snowpocalypse†â€" when plows were slow to reach some neighborhoods, including those outside Manhattan. But Mr. de Blasio emphasized on Thursday, “We have literally all hands on deck.â€
On Thursday evening, sanitation trucks roamed the city’s streets and pedestrians crunched through the salt that had been sprinkled on the sidewalks and subway platforms. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York declared a state of emergency and ordered several major highways, including the Long Island Expressway and the New York State Thruway south of Albany, to shut down from midnight to 5 a.m. on Friday. Similar restrictions were in effect for Interstate 84, where trucks and other commercial vehicles were barred at 5 p.m. on Thursday. Meanwhile, more than 2,000 canceled flights across the country stranded thousands of airline passengers, leaving many wondering how they would get home after their holiday travels.
Demand Heats Up for Ally Financial Shares  | Investors are paying increasingly high prices for the privately traded shares of Ally Financial, signaling that the United States government could be able to sell its remaining stake in the auto lender this year, Reuters reports, citing unidentified people familiar with the situation.
REUTERS
Shares of Fiat Surge on Chrysler Deal  | Shares of Fiat rose as much as 16 percent in trading in Milan on Thursday, reaching their highest levels since August 2011, after the Italian automaker said it had reached a deal to buy out the rest of Chrysler, Reuters reports.
DealBook »
Chrysler Deal Puts Fiat Chief in the Fast Lane  | The price of $3.65 billion for the almost 41.5 percent of Chrysler looks to be a fair one, writes Antony Currie of Reuters Breakingviews. And the deal with the union trust fund ends a dispute that had been festering almost 18 months.
REUTERS BREAKINGVIEWS
Repsol Completes Sale of Natural Gas Assets to Shell  | Shell, which beat out more than a dozen bidders, will pay $3.8 billion in cash to the Spanish energy company and assume about $1.6 billion in leases related to ship charters.
DealBook »
Chinese Firm Acquires 9 Regional Mining Companies  | Reuters reports: “China’s biggest producer of rare earths, the Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Rare Earth Group, has acquired nine regional mining companies as part of a government master plan to consolidate the sector.â€
REUTERS
Year-End Surge for Manhattan Real Estate  | “The Manhattan real estate market continued a yearlong trend, ending the final quarter of 2013 with a scarcity of listings and surging sales, while prices remained relatively flat,†Michelle Higgins reports in The New York Times.
NEW YORK TIMES
Goldman’s British Bankers Got a Raise  | Goldman Sachs raised its pay by 77 percent for top bankers in Britain in 2012, according to numbers released by the firm, Bloomberg News writes. The largest banks in the United States disclosed their 2012 figures as recently as this week under European disclosure rules.
BLOOMBERG NEWS
In Europe, a Decline in Private Sector Lending  | The Wall Street Journal reports: “Lending to the private sector in the euro zone plunged in November at the sharpest annual rate since records began over 20 years ago, data from the European Central Bank showed Friday, suggesting that the region will struggle to get its anticipated economic recovery in full gear.â€
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Media Conglomerate Buys Back Stake in AutoTrader  | The media company Cox Enterprises has bought back a $1.8 billion stake in the AutoTrader Group from Providence Equity Partners, to which it sold a 25 percent stake in the company in 2010, The Wall Street Journal reports.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Joseph Lieberman Joins Private Equity Firm  | The former senator from Connecticut and onetime vice presidential candidate is expected to help Victory Park Capital with his regulatory expertise.
DealBook »
How a Hedge Fund Boss Avoided a Harsher Fate  | Steven A. Cohen, the head of SAC Capital Advisors, was “clever â€" or lucky â€" enough to avoid the harshest penalties levied against some of his own employees. The reasons why may trace back to his actions during a few pivotal weeks in the summer of 2008,†Sheelah Kolhatkar reports in Bloomberg Businessweek.
BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK
Facebook Faces Suit Over Data Allegations  | The class-action lawsuit contends the social network scans users’ private messages to glean data it then shares with marketers. Facebook responded, “We believe the allegations are without merit and we will defend ourselves vigorously,†The Financial Times writes.
FINANCIAL TIMES
IMS Health Files for I.P.O. Â |Â The health care data company, which was taken private in 2010 by a consortium led by TPG Capital, filed for an I.P.O. of its common stock to raise up to $100 million, Reuters reports.
REUTERS
Ezra Klein Said to Plan to Depart The Post  | The analyst and columnist Ezra Klein, who runs The Washington Post’s Wonkblog, is making plans to leave the paper after failing to gain support for a new website venture, Ravi Somaiya reports in The New York Times.
NEW YORK TIMES
Snapchat Security Weakness Exposed  | A group of security researchers exploited a weakness in Snapchat’s systems, snagging and posting usernames and telephone numbers for 4.6 million Snapchat users, the Bits blog reports.
NEW YORK TIMES BITS
Weak Year for Venture Capital-Backed M.&A.  | Venture capitalists sold only 388 companies through mergers or acquisitions in 2013, according to data released by National Venture Capital Association and Thomson Reuters, which is the lowest total since 2009, Fortune’s Dan Primack reports. “Sounds pretty bad. But it probably isn’t,†Mr. Primack writes, given the year’s strong I.P.O. market.
FORTUNE
Regulator Plans to Increase Visibility of Its BrokerCheck Website  | Financial industry regulators are hoping to enact a rule this year that would make it easier for investors to find out if a broker pushing to sell them a stock, bond or other investment product has a clean record.
DealBook »
Martha Stewart Living and Macy’s Settle Contract Dispute  | Macy’s and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia have ended their legal battle over whether J.C. Penney had the right to sell certain Martha Stewart branded housewares, The New York Times writes.
NEW YORK TIMES
BlackRock Enters Detroit Bond Fight  | BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, is preparing to join a legal battle over Detroit’s financial future, claiming tax revenues should be used to pay general obligation bonds first, The Financial Times reports. Detroit’s bankruptcy has rankled the investor community by calling into question the legal protection for holders of general obligation bonds when a United States municipality defaults on its debt payments.
FINANCIAL TIMES
Weil Gotshal Partner Joins Paul Weiss Law Firm  | Scott M. Sontag, a lawyer formerly of Weil Gotshal & Manges, has joined the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison as a partner in the tax practice, Bloomberg News reports.
BLOOMBERG NEWS
Codere of Spain Is Said to Be in Talks to Avoid Insolvency  | The Spanish gambling company Codere said it was seeking protection from creditors in an effort to avoid insolvency, after struggling with debt payments, Reuters reports.
REUTERS
