Forbes

Interesting game played by a British investment trust: buying shares of other investment trusts and holding companies at a discount to their liquidating values. https://bit.ly/4ntal69 (Photo: Sebastian Nevols for Forbes)

It’s pro bono month and the IRS is looking for volunteers to support the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) and Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) programs. Here’s what you need to know.

In the City of London’s investment trust business, dog eats dog. Thus it is that Daniel Loeb, “activist” investor who shakes up torpid corporate managements, found himself under attack from another activist. Following a shareholder vote on August 14, Loeb pulled off a contentious merger of his London-listed trust with an offshore insurance company that he also controls. But he does not emerge from the fight unscathed. He had to cough up more cash to dissident shareholders than he wanted to. Leader of the dissidents: Joe Bauernfreund, a soft-spoken British money manager who has a curious specialty. He tracks billionaires, or rather, their holding companies. His vehicle is AVI Global Trust, a $1.6 billion U.K. investment company. This venerable closed-end (inception date: 1889) was created to speculate in Africa’s diamond-rich Transvaal region but in recent dec­ades has redefined itself as a value player Keep reading: https://bit.ly/4ntal69 (Photo: Sebastian Nevols for Forbes)

Despite reaching a deal with the Trump administration in the summer that restored more than $500 million in federal funding the government had frozen over allegations of discrimination, Brown University is laying off dozens of employees as it attempts to weather its ongoing financial pressures.

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Agtech startup Bonsai Robotics is using AI to tackle the challenges facing the farming industry, including a growing labor crisis.

New York startup Casap has raised $25 million in new funding to help banks tackle the thorny problem of credit and debit card disputes, aiming to make the process smoother for honest customers and tougher for fraudsters.

Whether Cristiano Ronaldo is soccer’s GOAT is up for debate, but he turned in an all-time earnings year with $275 million, leading 10 superstars who collectively hauled in $1.4 billion. https://lnkd.in/ewxhJdSN

After years of booming entrepreneurship, the market is softening for celebrity-backed companies. But eye-watering earnings continue to roll in for the biggest female movie, TV and pop stars in the country.

Silicon Valley has always glorified hustle culture. Some startups, like AI education company Arrowster, recruitment unicorn Mercor and Y Combinator-backed Corgi, are taking it to another level with 6 and 7 day work weeks. https://lnkd.in/eiNFVHbt