Investment Observations -- April 5, 2022

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site.  Do not make any investment, financial, job, career, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here. 

ATT: why the Warner Bros. Discovery merger is the "most exciting" story in streaming. Link here.

"This is going to be the most exciting story in the sector for the next few years," Jessica Reif, research analyst at Bank of America, confidently told Yahoo Finance.

The telecom giant revealed it will issue a special dividend to shareholders on April 5 when they can decide whether to own just AT&T, the soon-to-be Warner Bros. Discovery, or both.

AT&T's WarnerMedia will represent 71% of Warner Bros. Discover, and its shareholders will receive an estimated 0.24 shares of the new joint venture for each share of AT&T that they own once the transaction closes.

WarnerBros. Discovery, which is set to trade on the Nasdaq (^IXIC) under the ticker symbol "WBD," will be run by Discovery CEO David Zaslav, with Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels serving as the new company's CFO.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site.  Do not make any investment, financial, job, career, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here. 

JNJ. From thelegalexaminer -- "those suing JNJ... found themselves frustrated again. After separating into two companies, JNJ's subsidiary LTL Management can procced with its bankruptcy filing. -- March 15, 2022. That was just three weeks ago. The US Supreme Court won't take up this case. Judge Michael B. Kaplan is the US Bankruptcy Judge for the District of New Jersey. Wiki entry for US Bankruptcy Court. It looks like this is where the buck stops.

Under a Texas law, commonly known as the “Texas Two-Step,” Johnson & Johnson separated the company and created LTL Management. After its creation, Johnson & Johnson assigned legal liability for baby powder lawsuits to LTL Management. This business was then moved to North Carolina, where it declared bankruptcy. Filing for bankruptcy paused all lawsuits against LTL. Some of these baby powder lawsuits are sitting before the court in jury trials close to verdicts.

Bankruptcy pauses litigation. At NPR.

Meanwhile, the other split-to-be remains on track, apparently. JNJ to become two companies: consumer health -- all the stuff you see at Target; and, biotech and medical technology -- all the stuff used and seen in health care facilities. No name for new company yet. Let's call them JNJConsumer an JNJBiotech.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site.  Do not make any investment, financial, job, career, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here. 

UNP: shares continue to fall. No specific news. Rails are going to move record amounts of "everything" except perhaps cars.

• US soybean 2022 - 2023 output expected at record-breaking 125 million metric tons.
• sizeable shift from corn
• fertilizer price spike playing a major role in transition
• 2021 - 2022 output ran about 120 million metric tons
• North Dakota, coming in at #9, makes the top 10;
  

RMDs: this may catch some folks off-guard. 

All non-spouse inherited IRAs must be depleted within ten years after the death of the original owner (some very limited exceptions). This does not affect me but it does affect a member of the family. The family member was completely unaware of this new law and the original owner died nine years ago. The very small RMDs will still result in a huge IRA when the tenth anniversary is reached next year. Interestingly enough, this was missed by the individual's financial advisor. If you are taking RMDs from an IRA whose original owner died prior to 2020, check the year of the tenth anniversary. Note: I don't have any training or formal education in financial affairs or investment. The new law is very complicated. If this information is important to you go to the original source (the IRS) and/or your financial advisor and at least ask the question.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site.  Do not make any investment, financial, job, career, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here.