Good morning. Today we're talking about another US bank bites the dust, a British company is listing across the pond and Amazon's cloud is disappointing.

Big Stories

Another US bank folds

Over the weekend First Republic Bank became the fourth US lender to collapse in two months after it was seized by regulators. The 14th-largest commercial bank in the US has been in trouble since Silicon Valley Bank went under in March. Losses from rising rates and SVB’s collapse made First Republic’s customers nervous, and they pulled $100bn from the bank during the crisis with its share price dropping 97%. First Republic is the second-largest bank to fail in US history and poses yet another test of the country’s financial system. America’s largest bank, JPMorgan, will take over most of First Republic’s deposits and loans. Under normal circumstances, it would have been barred from swallowing another bank—but regulators made an exception in an emergency.

Arm prepares for stock market return

Japanese conglomerate SoftBank has filed to list British chipmaker Arm on the US stock market in the coming months, setting the stage for the largest IPO this year. The Cambridge-based company, whose tech is inside almost every smartphone, used to be listed in London before being taken over by SoftBank in 2016 in a deal worth £23bn. The UK government had tried to persuade the company to relist in London. But insiders said the persistent political instability and too shallow an investor base in London made New York more attractive. SoftBank had planned to sell Arm to leading computer tech giant Nvidia for $40bn, but the deal was scrapped after facing opposition from US and European competition regulators.

Amazon’s cloudy future

The ecommerce giant reported expectation-beating revenue growth in the first quarter of 2023 driven by its advertising business. But investors were concerned after the company warned that growth in its highly profitable cloud unit was slowing. Revenue in Amazon's AWS unit grew 16% during the quarter, down from 37% seen in the same period last year. Although AWS is still the market leading cloud division service, the gap is narrowing with rivals at Microsoft and Google growing much faster.  

Elsewhere...

Taking it to court: Adidas investors are suing the sportswear giant over its doomed partnership with Kanye West.

Cash call: The fashion retailer Superdry is in advanced talks about a near-£15m share sale as it races to shore up its balance sheet amid tough trading conditions.

Musical return: Four years after closing its doors, HMV’s flagship store in London’s Oxford Street is set to make its return.

Back to the office: Hybrid workers will have to spend at least two days a week in the office, Lloyds Banking Group has told staff, with “card swipe data” used to monitor their return.

Man U battle: Manchester United could become the most expensive sports team in the world, after a Qatari businessman entered a record-breaking offer as the bidding window slammed closed.

Cutting back: Morgan Stanley is planning to eliminate about 3,000 jobs in its second round of job cuts in six months.

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