Leon Black Steps Down | A Billionaire In Style | A First At The Treasury

Plus: This College Professor Became An Overnight Billionaire Fighting Covid

Good morning.

One of Wall Street’s most feared dealmakers is stepping down as CEO of the private equity giant he cofounded. The list of self-made women billionaires now counts a new name, and a social media giant prepares to launch China’s biggest tech IPO.

In The News Today

The Senate confirmed Janet Yellen's appointment to succeed former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin—she’s the first woman to lead the department.

Tech giants continue to crack down on election misinformation, with MyPillow CEO Mark Lindell and some Republican lawmakers being the latest to face repercussions.

Top Take-Aways

Leon Black, the billionaire cofounder of private equity giant Apollo Global Management, will be stepping down from his role as CEO. The announcement came as the firm released findings of an investigation led by its board of directors into Black’s links to Jeffrey Epstein.

Stitch Fix founder and CEO Katrina Lake has joined the three-commas club. Shares of her personal shopping subscription service have nearly tripled in the last three months, pushing Lake’s stake in the company, which is just over 10%, over the billion-dollar threshold.

It’s rare to pass on the opportunity to turn a viral meme into a revenue stream—Four Seasons Total Landscaping, anyone?—but one Vermont senator is hoping proceeds from his “Chairman Sanders Collection” will raise a few million for charities in the Green Mountain State.

Google has issued a warning against North Korean hackers masquerading as cybersecurity bloggers. Meanwhile, a researcher identified 23 new possible targets of the massive SolarWinds hack allegedly perpetrated by Russian cyber spies.

Taboola, a chumbox provider at the bottom of online articles, is joining the SPAC craze. It plans to merge in the second quarter with ION Acquisition Corp. 1, an Israeli investment company, at a $2.6 billion valuation.

A clear sign of social media users’ increasing influence over the stock market is the debacle around the shares of GameStop, whose trading the NYSE was forced to halt for a second time in a few days as the firm's stock price surged more than 100%.

Chinese social media giant Kuaishou is launching the country’s biggest IPO since Alibaba Group’s aborted listing of its financial services arm Ant Group in November, The video-sharing mobile app is looking to raise HK$42 billion ($5.4 billion).

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