Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - Supreme skepticism

The US Supreme Court seemed poised to keep Donald Trump on this year’s presidential election ballot, as the justices weighed a historic clash over Colorado voter efforts to disqualify the twice-impeached former president over his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol. Democratic- and Republican-appointed justices alike questioned whether the Colorado Supreme Court had the power to exclude the Republican candidate on the grounds that he engaged in an insurrection. Associate Justice Elena Kagan said the Colorado decision had national implications. “Why should a single state have the ability to make this determination not only for their own citizens but for the rest of the nation?” Trump, the subject of four felony prosecutions including one tied to the Jan. 6 attack, may find himself before the high court again if he challenges a US Court of Appeals ruling that he isn’t immune from prosecution. —David E. Rovella

McKinsey & Co. has warned about 3,000 of the firm’s consultants that their performance was unsatisfactory and will need to improve. The firm gave them a so-called “concerns” rating as part of their performance reviews in recent months, according to people familiar with the matter. With that rating, employees are typically given about three months to show improved performance. If they’re unable to do so, the firm may begin counseling some of them to leave the company entirely. It’s the latest sign that the consulting industry is pulling back from pandemic-induced hiring sprees.

China Evergrande Group had all the makings of a killer distressed-debt trade: $19 billion in defaulted offshore bonds; $242 billion in assets; and a government that appeared determined to prop up the country’s faltering property market. So US and European hedge funds piled into the debt, envisioning big payouts to juice their returns. What they got instead over the course of the next two years is a harsh lesson in the dangers of trying to bargain with the Communist Party. The talks are now dead, a Hong Kong court has ordered Evergrande’s liquidation and the bonds are trading in secondary markets at 1 cent on the dollar.

Canada’s largest telecommunications firm will cut jobs by about 9%, undertaking its largest workforce restructuring in nearly 30 years. Quebec-based BCE said it plans to slash 4,800 employee and contractor positions this year. It’s one of the largest rounds of layoffs in corporate Canada since the economy began to slow from its post-Covid rebound.  

Goldman Sachs was sued by a Hollywood business management firm that claims it was strung along as a mergers and acquisitions client while the bank pursued a much larger $7 billion deal with a private equity firm. In a suit filed Thursday in New York state court, KSFB Management said it was deceived by Goldman when it was seeking to sell itself in 2022.  

Photographer: Nicky Loh/Bloomberg

Pinterest plummeted in late trading after fourth-quarter revenue missed analysts’ estimates thanks to sluggish sales. The results from the pinboard-style search company follow a disappointing report from Snap, which suffered a stock plunge this week after holiday sales missed projections.  

Last June, a rusting tanker named Sincere 02 picked up oil at an Iranian port and steamed across the Persian Gulf on its way to the United Arab Emirates. US sanctions forbid Western companies from knowingly doing business with Iran. But for the next seven months, the ship continued to carry proof of insurance from a surprising place: New York City. That’s the home of  American Club, the smallest of the 12 companies that cover most of the world’s oceangoing ships against spills and accidents, and the only one based in the US. American Club provides insurance for 21 vessels suspected of having moved Iranian oil, more than any of its peers, according to a Bloomberg News analysis

Florida is often considered an underwhelming place to play golf. Bland, flat marsh doesn’t have the same cachet as wind-swept cliffs overlooking the Pacific. The Sunshine State stereotype is a course surrounded by retirement homes that looks as if it just rolled off the production line. The state has more than 1,200 courses, the most in the US, but just three on Golf Digest’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses list. But now some developers are betting that Florida’s boggy Martin County, near West Palm Beach, might be the golf mecca nobody ever expected.

The West course at Apogee Club Courtesy: Apogee

• Ukraine’s Army Chief is replaced after rift with President Zelenskiy.
• Russian election agency bars anti-war critic from challenging Putin.
• Tory donor Nick Candy backs change of UK leadership to Labour.
• David Einhorn says markets are “fundamentally broken.” Here’s why.
• How Jack Dorsey’s “Elon Musk Plan” faceplanted at Twitter.
• OpenAI’s secret weapon is Sam Altman’s 33-year-old lieutenant.
• Bloomberg Opinion: Doom spending is not the same as self-care.

Abu Dhabi is in advanced talks to buy and develop premium land on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast, a potential multibillion-dollar deal that could boost the North African nation’s troubled economy and help alleviate its foreign exchange crisis. A United Arab Emirates consortium has been selected to work with local partners to develop Ras El-Hekma, an area about 217 miles northwest of Cairo.

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