SpaceX, Cargill, DraftKings, and WeWork Complete Major Mergers And Acquisitions

It’s the Summer of Love, and big business is along for the ride. Across numerous industries this week, flings among various major players are turning into full-fledged unions in a series of high-profile mergers, acquisitions, and partnerships.

SpaceX, DraftKings, and agriculture corporation Cargill are each poised to welcome new businesses into their corporate portfolios. WeWork, meanwhile, is finalizing a fresh partnership with commercial real estate company Cushman & Wakefield.

The Price is Right

It’s a buyer’s market, and this market is hot, hot, hot. Even Elon Musk’s famously acquisition-adverse space company, SpaceX, is partaking in the fun with a purchase of satellite data startup Swarm Technologies. Meanwhile, DraftKings snapped up a cyber-casino competitor in Tilman Fertitta’s Golden Nugget Online, and Cargill expanded its chicken game with the purchase of poultry producer Sanderson Farms.

A few particulars of the deals:

• Swarm Technology and its 120 “tiny SpaceBee satellites” are set to become a wholly-owned subsidiary of SpaceX. Though financial details are not yet public, Swarm was last valued at $85 million in a funding round completed in January 2019, according to Pitchbook. The firm’s SpaceBee fleet will presumably be folded into SpaceX’s existing Starlink satellite network.
• As demand for poultry soars, Cargill and agriculture-investment firm Continental Grain have agreed to purchase Sanderson Farms for $4.5 billion, taking the chicken company private at $203 per share, roughly 30% above its stock price.
• DraftKings agreed to acquire Golden Nugget Online Gaming for $1.6 billion in stock, giving the daily sports fantasy and gambling site access to Golden Nugget’s well of 5 million reliable online casino customers.

Playing The Odds: According to experts, virtual casino players are worth seven times the value of sports betting customers. It doesn’t take a casino magnate on the level of Sheldon Adelson to recognize a gambler can lose quite a few hands of blackjack in the time it takes to miss on a football bet.

WeWork With New Friends: WeWork is undergoing a $150-million merger with commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield, in a deal that values the oft-embattled shared-office company at $9 billion including debt. But can the duo effectively respond to the rise of remote work?