May 21, 2020 - Economy & Business

Insurance policy comparison website SelectQuote raises $570 million in IPO

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

SelectQuote, an Overland Park, Kansas-based insurance policy comparison site backed by Brookside Equity Partners, raised $570 million in its IPO.

Why it matters: This is the largest U.S. IPO since early February, and just one of a small handful of non-biotech or non-SPAC issuers to price at all.

  • SelectQuote will trade on the NYSE (SLQT), while Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley were lead underwriters. It reports $60 million of profit on $263 million in revenue for the nine months ending March 31, 2020.
  • It priced 28.5 million shares at $20, above its $17-$19 range, for an initial market cap of $3.25 billion.

The bottom line: "Since late February, the Cboe Volatility Index, known as Wall Street’s fear gauge, has been above the 20-point threshold that most IPO hopefuls monitor to gauge investor jitters. But it has trended downwards in recent weeks, giving some companies confidence to test the market," writes Reuters.

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Mark Zuckerberg: Social networks should not be "the arbiter of truth"

Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg argued on CNBC's "Squawk Box" Thursday that social media platforms should not police political speech, and that "people should be able to see what politicians say.”

Why it matters: Zuckerberg was responding to Twitter's decision this week to fact-check a pair of President Trump's tweets that claimed that mail-in ballots are "substantially fraudulent." Twitter's label, which directs users to "get the facts" about mail-in voting, does not censor Trump's tweets.

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow1 hour ago - Politics & Policy

House Democrats pull FISA reauthorization bill

Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

House Democrats pulled legislation Thursday that would have renewed expired domestic surveillance laws and strengthened transparency and privacy protections amid broad opposition from President Trump, House GOP leadership and progressive Democrats.

Why it matters: The failure to reauthorize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) comes as Trump continues to attack the intelligence community, which he claims abused the law to surveil his 2016 campaign and Trump administration officials.

Go deeper (2 min. read)ArrowUpdated 2 hours ago - Politics & Policy

U.S. GDP drop revised lower to 5% in the first quarter

Data: Bureau of Economic Analysis; Chart: Axios Visuals

The U.S. economy shrunk by an annualized 5% in the first quarter — worse than the initially estimated 4.8% contraction — according to revised figures released by the government on Thursday.

Why it matters: It's the worst quarterly decline since 2008 and shows a huge hit as the economy was just beginning to shut down because of the coronavirus. Economists are bracing for the second quarter's figures to be the worst ever — with some projecting an annualized decline of around 40%.

2 hours ago - Economy & Business