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May 17, 2019

The week in investor relations: Uber sees share price fall on debut

This week’s IR-related stories from around the web

After the hype came the harsh reality: Uber’s share price fell on its first day, in what was an underwhelming start to the $82 bn tech IPO, reported The Telegraph. Billionaire investor Mark Cuban told CNBC that Uber’s disappointing IPO was ‘not a surprise’, while the Sunday Times wondered whether Uber’s poor IPO start was fanning fears the tech boom had hit its peak

Volkswagen executives have been getting ready for another showdown with investors after three institutional advisory groups – ISS, Glass Lewis and Deminor – called on shareholders to vote against the stewardship of all members bar one at the company’s AGM, according to the Financial Times.

Thomas Cook’s shares fell dramatically by 40 percent on Friday – the biggest drop since the firm had a financial crisis and nearly collapsed in 2011 – after Wall Street bank Citigroup produced a note advising investors to sell shares in the holiday group, reported The Guardian

US stocks abruptly ended their recent rally – with all three major indexes down – amid the ongoing and growing uncertainty over trade negotiations between Washington and Beijing, reported The Wall Street Journal

The Sunday Times reported that Vodafone is to go back on a pledge to investors and cut its dividend to pay for expensive auctions for mobile phone airwaves in Italy. In November last year, Vodafone said it would protect its dividend.

Shareholders of the Gannett newspaper group backed all eight of the company’s board candidates in a vote on Thursday at the company’s AGM, rebuffing an attempt by New York-based hedge fund Alden Global Capital to populate the board with its own candidates, reported The Washington Post

The UK’s Serious Fraud Office launched an investigation into petrol giant Greenergy, according to City AM, arresting four individuals over aspects of biodiesel trading at Greenergy and various third parties. 

Amazon is leading a funding round for Deliveroo to the tune of $575 mn, taking the total the food delivery app has raised to $1.53 bn, with others involved in the funding including investors T Rowe Price, Fidelity Management and Greenoaks, reported CNBC

After seeing positive gains recently, Bitcoin slumped this week and took rival digital currencies down with it, reported Bloomberg. This comes after the digital currency more than doubled in 2019, with many market-watchers struggling to explain the rally.

The BBC reported that the pound sank to a new low against the dollar after cross-party Brexit talks between the two main UK political parties fell apart. The fall reflects investors thinking the UK leaving the EU without a deal is now higher, analysts are cited as saying.

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