Airbnb is said to have closed a $475 million round of financing from a group led by TPG Growth that values the home-sharing company at about $10 billion, Michael J. de la Merced writes in DealBook. At the value assigned by the investment, Airbnb â€" a website and app where homeowners and apartment dwellers rent their homes, spare rooms or couches to travelers â€" would be worth more than some established hotel chains like Wyndham Worldwide or Hyatt.
Airbnb is also set to meet New York State’s attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, in court this week related to a subpoena filed last fall “to identify bad actors and illegal activity on the platform,†according to TechCrunch. The state is looking to crack down on hosts operating multiple listings.
GOLDMAN, CITI … AND A GUY IN AN OFFICE  | “Anyone looking at the mergers and acquisitions ‘league tables’ â€" the Wall Street equivalent of Major League Baseball’s standings â€" during this hot year for merger activity would find the usual suspects: Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs vying for the top spot, with other brand-name firms jockeying to fill the coveted top 10,†James B. Stewart writes in the Common Sense column. “And then, at No. 11, there’s Paul J. Taubman.â€
“Mr. Taubman has single-handedly accounted for $175 billion in deals over the last year, which has had Wall Street bankers buzzing with a mix of admiration and envy,†Mr. Stewart writes, adding, “Although Mr. Taubman’s feat is unusual, he may be part of a fledgling trend toward merger and acquisition microfirms, or, as in his case, sole practitioners.†In Mr. Taubman’s case, his lofty ranking is based on two giant deals: Verizon’s $130 billion acquisition of Vodafone’s stake in Verizon Wireless â€" the biggest single deal of 2013 â€" and Comcast’s $45 billion attempt to take over Time Warner Cable.
SOTHEBY’S POISON PILL  | The so-called poison pill was invented in the 1980s to fight off hostile raiders. But now, Sotheby’s â€" the auction house that has become a target for a number of hedge funds, including Daniel S. Loeb’s Third Point â€" has adopted a low-threshold poison pill “clearly aimed at the hedge funds, and Mr. Loeb in particular,†Steven M. Davidoff writes in the Deal Professor column. Third Point is running a proxy contest to replace three of Sotheby’s directors.
Sotheby’s poison pill sets two limits for ownership â€" a 20 percent limit for passive investors like mutual funds and a 10 percent threshold for activist shareholders. Third Point sued Sotheby’s in Delaware Chancery Court in March, challenging the poison pill as illegal because it limited the hedge fund’s ability to buy more shares and so have a greater likelihood of winning the proxy contest.
“The question now is whether the old cases upholding the poison pill will still apply in the case of activism. This is the fundamental question in the Sotheby’s case,†Mr. Davidoff writes. “In a hostile takeover, the company is about to undergo a change of control that will end its independence.†He adds: “But with shareholder activism, the issue is about steering the future direction of the company, not eliminating shareholders or the company itself. The company’s future independence or survival is not the primary question.â€
ON THE AGENDA Â |Â The index of leading indicators for March is out at 10 a.m. Maria Bartiromo of Fox Business Network interviews Mayor Bill de Blasio at 9 a.m. Netflix reports first-quarter earnings.
LATEST FIGHT ON VOLCKER RULE  | The fight over the Volcker Rule rages on. The latest battle involves an instrument known as the collateralized loan obligation, which big banks want to be allowed to own but which regulators say can be hazardous and may allow the banks to evade the Volcker Rule’s prohibition on risky trading. The rule was an attempt by lawmakers to reinstate taxpayer protections lost when Congress gutted the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999, but the big bank crowd contends that the regulators have overreached, Gretchen Morgenson writes in the Fair Game column.
Ms. Morgenson writes: “Under the rule, banks are not allowed to have ownership stakes or relationships with hedge funds or private equity firms. Many C.L.O.s are issued and overseen by hedge funds and private equity firms, though, making C.L.O.s just the kind of trading vehicles the Volcker Rule intended to exorcise from bank balance sheets.†Banks cannot own C.L.O.s if they contain bonds, equity interests or other assets, but can hold them if they contain only commercial loans throughout the holding period.
Some have called the Volcker Rule a job destroyer, arguing that it will cause small banks to make layoffs if they have to divest these riskier assets. Small banks, however, do not own large amounts of this paper, though their big bank brethren do, Ms. Morgenson writes. And the divestiture of these holdings would not cause immense losses, regulators say. “Clearly, large and interconnected banks like the status quo â€" a safety net that will rescue them if their bets go bad,†Ms. Morgenson adds. “What is equally clear, though, is that taxpayers deserve better.â€
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Comcast’s Real Repairman  | David L. Cohen, Comcast’s executive vice president, is the point man for moving deals like the one for Time Warner Cable past regulatory hurdles, The New York Times writes. NEW YORK TIMES
Comcast Said to Weigh Divestitures With Charter  | Comcast is said to be in talks with Charter Communications over selling or spinning off about three million subscribers worth up to $20 billion as part of the divestitures related to its $45 billion takeover of Time Warner Cable, Reuters reports, citing an unidentified person familiar with the situation. REUTERS
Pfizer Considering $100 Billion Offer for AstraZeneca  | Pfizer, the American pharmaceutical giant, has approached its British rival, AstraZeneca, to propose a takeover bid of more than $100 billion, Reuters writes, citing Britain’s Sunday Times. REUTERS
Square Explores Possible Sale  | Representatives of the mobile payments start-up Square have been in talks with rivals, including Google and Apple, over a possible sale, The Wall Street Journal writes, citing unidentified people familiar with the situation. WALL STREET JOURNAL
Barclays to Retreat From Commodities Trading  | Barclays is expected to announce plans this week to wind down large parts of its metals, agriculture and energy business, The Financial Times reports. FINANCIAL TIMES
American Securities Said to Be Seeking Buyer For Prison-Phone Operator  | The private equity firm American Securities is said to be considering selling the Global Tel*Link Corporation, the biggest American operator of prison phones, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing unidentified people familiar with the situation. The company was sold to American Securities in late 2011 for about $1 billion. WALL STREET JOURNAL
Article on Carlyle’s Involvement With New Jersey Pension System Is Criticized  | Dan Primack of Fortune’s Term Sheet countered an article published by the website Pando that questioned the New Jersey Investment Council’s decision to give $300 million of state pension money to the private equity firm Carlyle Group. Pando’s original article, which said that Robert Grady, the council’s chairman and one of the closest advisers of Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, is a longtime executive at Carlyle who still receives income from its investments, can be found here. FORTUNE
Spectrum Equity Investors Raising New Fund  | The private equity firm Spectrum Equity Investors, based in Boston, is raising a new $800 million fund, Fortune writes. The firm last closed a fund in 2010. FORTUNE
In Hong Kong, Some Bankers Back an ‘Occupy’ Movement  | A former hedge fund manager, Edward C.K. Chin, hopes to ignite a political awakening among the bankers, stockbrokers and financial traders whose livelihoods have become increasingly enmeshed in mainland China’s cash and influence, The New York Times reports. NEW YORK TIMES
Former Soros Team to Start Hong Kong Hedge Fund  | A former Soros Fund Management team is set to start a hedge fund based in Hong Kong in the third quarter of 2014; it will have at least $150 million in initial capital, Reuters writes.
REUTERS
Hedge Funds Shying Away From I.P.O. Market  | Hedge funds and large investors are retreating from the new-offering market, including the one for initial public offerings, for fear of being burned again by highflying growth stocks, The Wall Street Journal writes. But many investors remain optimistic about the overall market. WALL STREET JOURNAL
Protests Continue Against Dropbox After Appointment of Condoleezza Rice to Board  | After Dropbox appointed Condoleezza Rice, the former secretary of state, to its board, some users have complained about her views on Internet surveillance, The New York Times writes. The company is expected to file for an initial public offering within two years. NEW YORK TIMES BITS
In Silicon Valley Thriller, a Settlement May Preclude the Finale  | Four leading technology companies are pushing to settle a class-action suit with several noteworthy angles, including questions over employee rights and the death of a programmer who helped set the case in motion, The New York Times reports. NEW YORK TIMES
Venture Capitalist Shares Views on How the Sector Operates  | Sean Jacobsohn, a venture partner at Emergence Capital Partners, writes on VentureBeat that, “to make 10 investments, the average venture capital firm reviews approximately 1,200 companies.†VENTUREBEAT
Charges Upheld in Another Galleon Trading Case  | Rengan Rajaratnam, a brother of the imprisoned hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam, lost a bid on Friday to dismiss some of the insider trading charges he is facing, Reuters reports. REUTERS
