Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - ‘Evolve or die’

Bridgewater Associates was bound to be different once billionaire founder Ray Dalio no longer ran it. It turns out the world’s largest hedge fund has indeed changed. The overhaul began even before Dalio handed off control five months ago, with not-so-subtle tweaks to the infamously odd culture he nurtured. Now, the management team he left in charge, led by Chief Executive Officer Nir Bar Dea, is adopting an ambitious strategy to boost returns, increase profitability and develop new sources of revenue—in what amounts to the biggest shakeup in four decades. “Just doing what we’ve been doing isn’t good enough,” Bar Dea, 41, said in an interview. “Evolve or die. That’s what’s happening here.” —David E. Rovella

Salesforce started the new year by firing 8,000 people. Now the company has signaled that it’s making headway in efforts to boost profitability, potentially easing the pressure it faces from activist investors.

Certificates of deposit are one of the oldest, safest bank products around, but investing in shorter-term CDs right now just isn’t worth it, Alexis Leondis writes in Bloomberg Opinion.  

Someone is in denial about inflation, Allison Schrager writes in Bloomberg Opinion, be it investors or the Fed. But no matter how things play out, the disconnect suggests the central bank has lost credibility. Soft landing or hard, Schrager writes, one casualty of the economy may be the Fed’s inflation-targeting regime. 

The build-up in car owner negative equity—the amount debt exceeds the value of your vehicle—is raising alarms. Though it’s not unusual for drivers to carry negative equity, some dealers say more Americans are arriving at their lots up to $10,000 underwater, or “upside down,” on their trade-ins.  

Chris Martin and his wife were $14,000 underwater on their two vehicles when they traded them in for a Ford Explorer to accommodate their kids. Their total loan, after factoring in negative equity and other costs, ballooned to $66,000 on the $49,000 Explorer. Photographer: Alyssa Pointer/Bloomberg

The US is closely monitoring Russia’s efforts to evade sanctions via Central Asia, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in Kazakhstan, highlighting concerns that Russia is receiving microchips and other technology through imports from its neighbors.

Colon cancer is striking younger American adults with greater frequency, and more tumors are being detected in advanced stages, shifts in the occurrence of the potentially lethal disease that have sparked calls for wider screening.

Birds that once nested in Norway have been tracked to a new breeding ground 600 miles away in Russia, a possible adaptation to the climate crisis, scientists say. It’s the latest evidence that the planet’s animals are changing patterns to survive in a warming world.

A pink-footed goose.  Photographer: Arterra/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

Bloomberg continues to track the global coronavirus pandemic. Click here for daily updates.

• The massive Russian satellite hack everyone is finally talking about.
• Employee blowback against Starbucks spreads to white collar-workers.
• WFH catastrophe: Two office landlord defaults may be just the start.
• Bloomberg Opinion: Elon Musk was right about this.
• Bloomberg Opinion: Solomon’s “new” Goldman Sachs isn’t enough.
• After three years of pandemic, city dwellers came back. But not stores.
• Big Short’s Michael Burry blames borrowers for US student loan crisis.

Baseball legend Alex Rodriguez and business partner Marc Lore have raised $20 million for a new ticketing and fan-experience business they hope will outperform the industry’s troubled incumbents. The two men started considering the sector in 2020 when they tried to buy the New York Mets. Since then, the ticketing industry has seen a lot of drama, with Live Nation Entertainment executives grilled by lawmakers over the botched sale of Taylor Swift tickets in November.  

Marc Lore, left, and Alex Rodriguez Photographer: Joseph Guzy/NBAE

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