🧩 Musk wants SpaceX to marry Tesla
PLUS: A hack stops bankruptcy notices nationwide, Salesforce buys Braze for $5.66B, federal clerks get a $205K bonus...
Lookzy: all your daily legal news in 0.1 billable hours. Plain English coverage of deals, litigation and legal trends trusted by lawyers at Cravath, Latham, Skadden, Gunderson and elsewhere.
Welcome to Lookzy. In today's Lookzy:
- SpaceX and Tesla form merger committees
- A hack halts bankruptcy notices nationwide
- Salesforce's $5.66B Braze buy
- A $205K bonus for federal clerks
AN ODD KABUKI DANCE
The boards of SpaceX and Tesla have each formed special committees of independent directors to study combining the two companies, Elon Musk said on SpaceX's earnings call Tuesday. SpaceX is valued at about $2 trillion and Tesla at about $1.5 trillion, so it would be the biggest corporate merger ever.
Musk said he's a conflicted party and can't sit in on the talks, calling the setup "an odd kabuki dance where two groups of people are talking, and I can't be in the conversation." No terms have been agreed. He told investors the hard part is Tesla, where a deal would need a majority of all shareholders, not just those who vote.
No law firms have been named yet, but two special committees, a controlling shareholder on both sides and a trillion-dollar fairness opinion add up to a very good year for somebody.
THE VERDICT
Arguing today's litigation news
Return to sender. A cybersecurity incident at BAE Systems, which runs the judiciary's Bankruptcy Noticing Center, has halted bankruptcy notices for every federal bankruptcy court since Oct. 9, with no restoration date. CM/ECF still works, but court notices, 341 meeting notices and creditor lists aren't going out, and deadlines aren't automatically extended. Courts from Maryland to Texas say parties must ask for extensions or continuances, and a docket entry alone doesn't prove service.
Sanctuary. A split D.C. Circuit revived a challenge by 27 Christian and Jewish groups to the Trump administration's rollback of the policy limiting ICE arrests at houses of worship. Judges Pan and Wilkins found the groups likely have standing and sent the injunction bid back to Judge Friedrich; Judge Rao dissented.
Citizen's arrest. A federal judge in Mississippi refused to let DOJ dismiss the NAACP's Clean Air Act suit over the gas generators powering xAI's data center, though DOJ can intervene. DOJ argued national security; Judge Debra Brown said Congress wrote the citizen-suit provision so people can sue when the government won't.
Peer reviewed. A Suffolk County jury awarded former MIT professor David Sabatini $6 million plus interest, finding that Kristin Knouse, a former colleague who accused him of sexual misconduct in his lab, defamed him and interfered with his career.
Oh, thank heaven. 7-Eleven and Nike settled their trademark fight over a 7/11 release of Air Max 95s in the convenience chain's orange, red and green. 7-Eleven sued in July after licensing talks failed; Judge Brantley Starr (N.D. Tex.) signed off on a dismissal with prejudice.
THE DEAL
Wheelin' and dealin' today's corporate news
Cloud nine. Salesforce agreed to buy Braze, the customer engagement platform, for about $5.66 billion in enterprise value, or $47.50 a share in cash. Wachtell and Covington are repping Salesforce and Davis Polk is repping Braze.
Test results. EQT is in advanced talks to buy Qiagen, Bloomberg News reports, with a binding offer of more than $50 a share; KKR has also bid. Qiagen's board meets this week to decide.
Sequel. Apollo-owned Legendary Entertainment, the studio behind Dune, revived talks to buy Lionsgate and submitted an offer, Bloomberg reports. Lionsgate shares jumped as much as 21%.
BOILERPLATE
Lateral Moves:
- Blank Rome hired commodities partners Christopher Doyle and Marvin Goldstein in New York from Hogan Lovells.
- Crowell & Moring hired M&A partner Jeryl Bowers in Los Angeles from Sheppard Mullin.
- Haynes Boone hired private capital finance partner Chris Acton in London from Macfarlanes.
Industry News:
- Hueston Hennigan will pay a $205,000 bonus for all federal clerkships starting next year, topping the $200,000 that Susman, Munger and Quinn pay for multiple clerkships.
- Weil held an all-partner meeting Tuesday as it negotiates a merger, and Legal Business reports Willkie Farr is among the firms it has talked to.
- Jones Day raised its London NQ salary to £170,000 (about $227,000).
Alright, back to billing. That's all, folks!
