Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - Harris rakes it in

US Vice President Kamala Harris quickly consolidated support among powerful Democrats and raised a record $81 million in the 24 hours since President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race. Biden, 81, sick with Covid, stepped back after nearly a month of frenzied media scrutiny over his age and at the subsequent urging of frightened members of his own party. Within minutes of his announcement, however, Democrats who had been steadily abandoning him changed their tune, racing to praise Biden’s selflessness for quitting. Harris, meanwhile, is not yet the Democratic nominee, but no other major Democrat has indicated they will challenge her. A former prosecutor who served as the San Francisco District Attorney, California attorney general and as a US Senator before being tapped by Biden, she appears to have a clear path to the nomination to face the 78-year-old Donald Trump. And being almost 20 years his junior, she has turned the tables on the Republican. Trump now faces an inaugural member of Generation X who has taken over Biden’s campaign (renamed “Harris for President”) and its massive war chest. Harris paid tribute to Biden at an event for college athletes at the White House on Monday, her first public appearance since he dropped out, saying the president had “already surpassed the legacy of most presidents who have served two terms in office.” —David E. Rovella

Despite a recent stock market slump that has some on Wall Street bracing for a summer correction, respondents to Bloomberg’s Markets Live Pulse survey said they expect the latest round of corporate earnings to reinvigorate the S&P 500. As the reporting season ramps up, almost two-thirds of the 463 respondents to the questionnaire expect earnings to boost the US equities benchmark. 

Over the past several years, the idea of direct cash transfers to low-income Americans has gained some traction, with more than 150 local pilots in 35 US states testing the idea of “basic income.” The largest of those didn’t come from a city or county though, but from OpenResearch, a project backed by OpenAI founder Sam Altman. After three years of distributing $1,000 a month to beneficiaries in Illinois and Texas, the organization has released a trio of research papers on its findings. Like many other studies released before it, OpenResearch found recipients spend more to meet their basic needs and assist others, and don’t drop out of the workforce.

AMC Entertainment Holdings said it reached a sweeping restructuring deal with creditors that will let it delay repayment of more than $1.6 billion of debt for several years, buying it time to execute a turnaround. It’s a major milestone for AMC, which has been fighting against $4.5 billion of long-term borrowings as theater attendance remains below pre-pandemic levels. Chief Executive Officer Adam Aron said the deal makes AMC “ever-more confident in the future of our business.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has turned to raising taxes on businesses to help fund Canada’s budget, potentially adding headwinds to an economy that’s already struggling to attract investment. The landscape is a contrast with the US, which is in the midst of a supply renaissance and a factory building boom. Economists warn that Canada’s higher taxes will send the wrong signal to firms thinking about expanding production—risking longer-term damage to an economy that has relied on high levels of immigration and consumption to fuel growth.

Artificial intelligence startup Cohere is now one of the world’s most valuable AI companies, and one of the largest startups in Canada. In a new funding round, Cohere was valued at $5.5 billion, vaulting it to the upper echelons of global startups. Toronto-based Cohere makes large language models—software trained on massive swaths of the internet to analyze and generate text—and customizes them for businesses. Its software has attracted hundreds of customers, such as Notion Labs and Oracle (also an investor), which use the startup’s technology to do things like help write website copy, communicate with users and add generative AI to their own products. 

South Korean authorities have issued an arrest warrant for Kakao founder Brian Kim over allegations of market manipulation. Kim, 58, celebrated for creating a messaging and social-media platform that linked online services, is facing accusations he was involved in a stock-rigging scheme during the high-profile takeover of SM Entertainment in 2023. Kakao won a controlling stake in SM after an intense bidding battle with Hybe, the label behind boyband sensation BTS. 

Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, says diesel produced by his massive refinery is the best in Nigeria even as lawmakers consider a probe into the quality of fuel in the country. Dangote has been battling with authorities on multiple fronts since the start of the year—from a raid by the anti-graft agency on his offices in January to allegations last week that he wants an import ban on diesel. The volley of accusations prompted the billionaire to scrap a plan to invest in a major new steel plant in Africa’s most-populous nation, which he had planned to start building next year.

Aliko Dangote  Photographer: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg

• Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater exit terms may be delaying some big plans.
• How Walt Disney world is trying to make amends with unhappy guests.
• “Wolf of Airbnb” gets four years in prison for New York City rental fraud.
• This is the next hot commodity for American farmers.
• Philippines’ Marcos shuts down China-centric casinos.
• The $12,000 Harvard class celebrities are fighting to get into.
• Bloomberg Opinion: America’s vacation culture is dying.

The Alfa Nero superyacht, which has been abandoned in the Caribbean for more than two years, has a new owner. The 267-foot (81-meter) vessel, complete with a baby grand piano and a swimming pool that turns into a helipad, sold for $40 million last week. But the buyer remains a secret. The sale marks the latest attempt to end the yacht’s years-long saga. A Russian oligarch abandoned it in Antigua in March 2022, after being sanctioned by the US Treasury. Then tech billionaire Eric Schmidt tried buying it at auction, only to give up when the sale became a legal quagmire.

The superyacht Alfa Nero, center, docked in Falmouth Harbour in Saint Paul Parish, Antigua, in 2023. Photographer: Bing Guan/Bloomberg

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