Premarket Stocks: CEOs like Jeff Bezos grapple with new political realities

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What is going on: Amazon AMZN CEO Jeff Bezos has announced that the company “supports an increase in the corporate tax rate” as President Joe Biden powers an ambitious infrastructure package. To help pay the bill, Biden has proposed raising the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%.

“We support the Biden administration’s focus on making bold investments in US infrastructure,” Bezos said. “We recognize that this investment requires concessions from all sides – both in the details of what’s included and how it’s paid.”

It’s a remarkable announcement – especially given that Amazon has been criticized in recent years for paying little or no income tax in recent years. The company reported a US federal tax liability of $ 1.8 billion in 2020, compared to net income for the year of $ 21.3 billion.

Amazon’s willingness to increase its tax burden is because the company has had to play defense on a number of other fronts.

The online retailer has clashed with lawmakers in recent weeks over a union vote at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama. Ballots are still being counted, but the vote could be a huge victory for the organized workers and upset the way the company deals with hundreds of thousands of American workers.

It also needs goodwill given a dual momentum for more regulation of Big Tech companies. Like it Facebook FB and Google GOOGL, Amazon is under scrutiny for alleged anti-competitive behavior. Its growth during the pandemic may have only increased the size of the target on its back.
Step Back: Companies are gearing up for a booming post-pandemic economy expected to boost revenues and boost growth. JPMorgan JPM CEO Jamie Dimon, who published his widely-read letter to shareholders on Wednesday, told my CNN Business colleague Matt Egan that he has “not been so optimistic about the US economy for a long time”.
But executives also navigate a range of tricky factors that can impact their businesses: Higher taxes are just one point on a long list of concerns. Last week, companies including Delta OF THE and Coca Cola KO condemned Georgia’s controversial voting bill after it came under pressure from activists.

In his shareholder letter, Dimon wrote that America is “clearly under a lot of stress and tension” due to the pandemic, racial inequality, the rise of China and “the divisive 2020 presidential election, culminating in the storming of the Capitol and the attempt to overcome our democracy. to disturb. “

The influential Business Roundtable has pledged to fight higher corporate taxes, which it believes will make US companies less competitive. But it is noteworthy that Amazon has decided to shift its focus elsewhere.

Coinbase is reporting tremendous growth prior to its listing on Wall Street

The massive rise in the price of cryptocurrencies is a huge win for Coinbase, which will make its public market debut next week.

The latest: The digital currency exchange estimated on Tuesday that it brought in $ 1.8 billion in revenue in the first three months of the year. That’s up from $ 1.3 billion for all of 2020.

Between January and March, the price of bitcoin – the most popular crypto coin – rose from less than $ 30,000 to more than $ 58,000, while the price of ethereum more than doubled.

“We’ve seen high cryptocurrency prices drive higher levels of user activity and trading volume on our platform so far,” said Alesia Haas, Coinbase’s chief financial officer.

Check out this space: California-based Coinbase is the preeminent company in the crypto space to go public, and its direct listing on the Nasdaq, scheduled for next Wednesday, is getting a lot of attention.

But regulation of the crypto space remains a major risk. Last month, Coinbase reached a $ 6.5 million settlement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission over allegations that it had provided false or misleading information about transactions and that a former employee had engaged in manipulative trades.

“We are subject to an extensive and highly evolving regulatory landscape and any adverse changes in or non-compliance with laws and regulations could adversely affect our brand, reputation, business, results of operations and financial condition,” filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Topps goes public as trading cards grow

The pandemic has sparked a resurgence in the popularity of trading cards, with the hobby attracting a new wave of young adherents as well as a flood of professional investors on the hunt for returns.

That’s good news for 83-year-old Topps, whose brand is synonymous with baseball cards and bubble gum. On Tuesday, the company announced plans to merge with a specialty acquisition company, or SPAC, my CNN Business colleague Paul R. La Monica reports.

The deal would value Topps at $ 1.3 billion.

Topps has been a publicly traded company several times over the decades. Most recently, it was taken private in 2007 by an investment company run by former Disney CEO Michael Eisner. That deal was worth $ 385 million.

The scene: I wrote a deep dive on the trading cards mania earlier this year – and the hype hasn’t abated. Last week, a 2000-signed rookie card for Tom Brady sold at auction for nearly $ 2.3 million.

The industry has also been boosted by the craze about non-replaceable tokens or NFTs. Topps recently expanded its business to sell digital editions of its player cards, each with a unique digital token built on blockchain technology. This creates a scarcity that makes them more valuable to collectors.

Next one

The meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors will conclude with a press conference at 10 a.m. ET.

Also today:

  • The latest data on US crude oil stocks will come out at 10:30 a.m. ET.
  • The minutes of the most recent Federal Reserve meeting arrive at 2 p.m. ET.
Available tomorrow: Conagra CAG Constellation brands STZ and Levi Strauss LEVI report earnings.

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