Florida-based construction company announces $1.5 billion merger with drone maker Xtend in pact backed by Eric Trump

Florida-based construction company JFB Construction Holdings climbed 14% in premarket trading on Tuesday following an announcement that it will merge with Israeli drone maker Xtend in a $1.5 billion deal.

The shares were halted for news pending Tuesday morning, per a Bloomberg trading notice, before resuming trading.

JFB said the deal is backed by investments from Eric Trump. Unusual Machines, a drone tech company linked to Donald Trump Jr., is also listed as a strategic investor.

Xtend has marketed some of its drone products as “low cost‑per‑kill” and in November announced it won a multimillion-dollar Pentagon contract.

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Luke Kawa1h

AMC gains amid report on efforts to refinance $2.5 billion in debt

AMC is enjoying a solid start to the week as management looks to make progress on managing its onerous (and expensive) debt load.

Bloomberg reports that the theater chain is marketing a $750 million term loan and seeking $1.73 billion in secured debt, citing a person with knowledge of the matter.

The obligations that the chain is reportedly looking to refinance are its $2 billion term loan due in 2029 (priced at one-month SOFR plus 700 basis points) and $400 million in senior notes due next year that carry a coupon of 12.75%.

Luke Kawa2h

ServiceNow CEO steps up with $3 million stock purchase announcement as executives cancel stock-selling plans

ServiceNow’s executives have banded together to try to restore confidence in the struggling software company’s stock.

A filing released this morning showed CEO Bill McDermott entered into an agreement to purchase $3 million in company stock on February 27.

In addition, the CEO, CFO Gina Mastantuono, and three other executives ended their 10b5-1 trading plans (in which company stock is typically divested by an insider’s broker according to a preset schedule).

Shares were up about 3% in early trading before paring much of those gains.

ServiceNow was one of many software stocks to struggle this earnings season despite reporting better-than-expected results and rosy near-term guidance, as investors worry about the potential for industry-wide disruption by AI tools.

McDermott had attributed the slide in the stock to acquisitions announced in December. During the conference call following the company’s Q1 earnings report in late January, he told investors, “The worry is gone, you can give us back the market cap.”

Luke Kawa

Fund managers fretting over Corporate America’s “overinvestment” are only worried about one thing

Being concerned about “overinvestment” is really a very narrow statement about worries over hyperscalers’ ROI.

Tom Jones4h

Netflix has granted Warner Bros. a 7-day waiver to resume deal talks with Paramount to hear out its best and final offer

Warner Bros. Discovery will resume talks with Paramount Skydance to hear out its best and final offer after Netflix granted a limited weeklong waiver, according to a statement released Tuesday morning.

The Warner Bros. Discovery board, per the statement, continues to unanimously back the merger with Netflix, while the streamer will retain its rights to match or exceed any forthcoming offer from Paramount. This fresh negotiation period ends on February 23.

Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery rose on the news, up 2.6% as of 7:46 a.m. ET. Netflix shares also gained about 1% following the press release — suggesting that investors think the streaming giant might be overpaying at the originally agreed-upon price, and that losing out to Paramount could be a blessing in disguise.

Warner Bros. Discovery also confirmed that a Paramount representative told the company it would be willing to pay $31 per share “pending engagement” — that would be up about 3% from the current $30-per-share offer and also doesn’t constitute PSKY’s “best and final” proposal, per the representative.

The headline offer price had, up until now, proved a sticking point for both sides of the Paramount/Warner deal, while a clause covering the $2.8 billion breakup fee with Netflix in PSKY’s most recent offer could also prove enticing.

WBD shareholders will vote on the proposed Netflix merger on March 20. Interestingly, though the WBD board continues to “unanimously recommend” taking the Netflix deal, some prediction markets have now swung to place Paramount as the favorite in the acquisition battle.

(Event contracts are offered by Robinhood Derivatives, LLC. Data is sourced from KalshiEX LLC.)

Warner Bros. Discovery Agrees to Engage With Paramount in Sales Talks, but for Now Still Backs Netflix Deal as It Sets March 20 Shareholder Vote

(Event contracts are offered by Robinhood Derivatives, LLC. Data is sourced from KalshiEX LLC.)

Claire Yubin Oh5h

Norwegian Cruise Line jumps after the WSJ reports that activist Elliott has built a more than 10% stake in the company

Norwegian Cruise Line rose as much as ~12% in premarket trading on Tuesday after The Wall Street Journal reported that Elliott Investment Management has built a more than 10% stake in the company and plans to push for a turnaround at the cruise operator.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the Journal detailed that the activist hedge fund aims to engage with the company to “try to help fix its underperformance” and “make changes to catch up to its rivals.” Per the report, Elliott also privately approached Adam Goldstein, the former president and COO of competitor Royal Caribbean — a company that Elliott sees as having been successfully improving its financial performance and guest experience — as a potential board member nominee for the company.

Indeed, NCLH has seen its stock drop more than 20% in the past year, lagging behind rivals like Royal Caribbean, which is projecting strong demand for the full year driven by affluent customer demand.

Last Thursday, Norwegian appointed former Subway CEO John Chidsey as its new chief executive. Shares fell more than 7% on Friday after the late evening news.

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