And I Thought It Was Going To Be A Quiet Saturday Morning -- August 10, 2019

Epstein dead. No link. Story everywhere. "Was no longer on suicide watch." Obviously some big rollers were involved. This pretty much ends the investigation. A collective sigh of relief was heard across the US, from Maine to New Mexico.

Uber: latest firm to flounder post-IPO.

Solar: SoftBank's bid to build a solar-power empire founders.

IPO: Saudi plans for biggest-ever IPO are back on. Later: largest company in the world by revenues; first conference earnings call; last 30 minutes; no one learns anything new. Alfalfa breathes a sigh of relief. Link here.

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Solar

From the linked story:

For years, SoftBank Group Corp. Chief Executive Masayoshi Son has talked about building a global renewable-energy empire capable of carrying solar power across continents.

The Japanese investor sought deals of immense scale in Saudi Arabia, India and beyond. He promised to spend hundreds of billions of dollars tackling one of the world’s toughest challenges—meeting its growing energy demand with less carbon-intensive sources.

Today, his boldest proposals are foundering. Mr. Son has announced plans to build as much as 220 gigawatts of solar capacity in Saudi Arabia and India by 2030—equivalent to half of what exists today around the world. Yet SoftBank has managed to contract for around 3 gigawatts in India and has about 700 megawatts in Japan. The company hasn’t completed a project in Saudi Arabia and doesn’t appear close to winning a major contract there soon.

In India, developers including SoftBank were hit last year by unexpected increases in taxes and tariffs, cancellations of auctions and land disputes. One solar park in the country where SoftBank is building a plant has been hit by delays stemming from squatters refusing to move off the land allocated to the project.

Japan: note that is "megawatts," not "gigawatts."

1,000 megawatts = 1 gigawatt. 

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IPO

From the linked article:

Saudi Arabia’s oil company is reviving plans for an initial public offering with the aim of accomplishing what would be the world’s biggest listing as soon as early next year.

The IPO process for Saudi Arabian Oil Co., known as Saudi Aramco, is being accelerated as government officials hope to capitalize on the positive market reaction to the state-owned company’s debut bond sale in April, which raised $12 billion.

Saudi officials also believe international outrage over the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul is easing.

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