Marathon wine, wedding party size, suit sales rise and Gen Z's different wealth plan: Bloomberg News' Lisa Mateo joins Joe Mathieu and Carol Massar on Bloomberg This Weekend to share headlines you may have missed from over the week.
Florida's 19th Congressional District has drawn a crowded Republican field seeking to replace Byron Donalds, who is running for governor, with former Trump administration official Catalina Lauf gaining a potentially significant boost from the president's endorsement. Bloomberg News Government Senior Reporter Greg Giroux is on Bloomberg This Weekend to explain that the race comes as affordability, insurance costs and concerns about data centers emerge as campaign issues across Florida ahead of Tuesday's primary.
Meta faces a landmark federal trial brought by 29 states over allegations that Facebook and Instagram were deliberately designed to addict young users and that the company improperly collected children's data. Bloomberg News Tech Reporter Alexandra Levine joins Joe Mathieu and Carol Massar on Bloomberg This Weekend to explain that the case could expose Meta to substantial penalties and potentially more consequential court-ordered changes to how its platforms operate.
Bloomberg News Middle East Reporter Dan Williams is on Bloomberg This Weekend discussing how the expiration of the US-Iran memorandum of understanding is unlikely by itself to trigger a return to all-out fighting, with diplomatic efforts over the Strait of Hormuz continuing despite repeated attacks on commercial vessels. Williams explains to hosts Joe Mathieu and Carol Massar that the Trump administration is increasingly emphasizing economic pressure on Tehran as hopes for a broader settlement remain elusive and Israel assesses whether sanctions could force Iran toward concessions.
Private equity has long promised investors better returns than public markets, while offering entrepreneurs like Dan Namerow life-changing exits. But the market that made those deals work has changed. Higher interest rates have made debt-financed buyouts harder to justify, while deals struck at peak valuations in 2020 and 2021 have become more difficult to exit. University of Chicago Booth professor Steven Kaplan says US buyout funds largely beat public markets for decades, but that pattern has reversed since 2019, while PitchBook reports that the backlog of companies held by private equity firms has risen to more than 33,000. The result is a tougher environment where firms are being judged less on leverage and multiple expansion, and more on whether they can actually improve the businesses they buy.
Rescuers in western Colombia are still searching for survivors after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake killed at least 287 people. Bloomberg News Latin America Government Reporter Mie Dahl joins Bloomberg This Weekend from Bogotá and explains to hosts Joe Mathieu and Carol Massar that the disaster has also disrupted coffee exports and created an immediate leadership test for President Abelardo de la Espriella, who was sworn in just days before the quake struck.
Bloomberg News Cyber Security & Tech Reporter Katrina Manson got a firsthand look at autonomous drone-swarm technology that allows multiple aircrafts to coordinate and strike targets even when communications or GPS are disrupted. Joining Bloomberg This Weekend, Mason explains to Carol Massar that the Pentagon is testing the technology as part of its Swarm Forge program, but experiments in which AI identified civilian vehicles as potential targets highlight the risks as militaries push toward greater autonomy in warfare.
Joining Bloomberg This Weekend to discuss the war in Ukraine one year after the Trump-Putin Alaska summit, Former Republican Congressman and current CEO of RIIG Technologies Denver Riggleman also spoke with hosts Joe Mathieu and Carol Massar about the role of private companies in offensive US cyber operations. Riggleman says that these operations could create serious risks if targets are misidentified or attacks produce unintended consequences.
Bob Iger and Josh Kushner moved from pursuing a Las Vegas NBA expansion team to agreeing within days to buy the Los Angeles Lakers in a record $12.5 billion deal. Bloomberg News Host of Sports City Randall Williams is on Bloomberg This Weekend with hosts Joe Mathieu and Carol Massar and explains that the transaction comes as Madison Square Garden Sports moves toward separating the Knicks and Rangers businesses and Jeff Bezos joins a group taking a minority stake in Liverpool, underscoring investor demand for scarce live-sports assets.
PNC's Chief Investment Officer Amanda Agati is on Bloomberg This Weekend with hosts Joe Mathieu and Carol Massar and says that strong earnings and economic fundamentals continue to support US stocks, even as elevated Treasury yields and midterm uncertainty threaten to bring more volatility.
