Finance

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau staff to work remotely, HQ shuttered

Published

1 week ago

February 9, 2025

Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Acting Director Russell Vought speaks with reporters during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S., March 11, 2019.

Jonathan Ernst | Reuters

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau employees were told Sunday to work remotely because their Washington, D.C., headquarters would be closed through Feb. 14, according to a memo obtained by CNBC.

The memo, from CFPB Chief Operating Officer Adam Martinez, follows an email sent Saturday from newly installed acting CFPB director Russell Vought which instructed staff to suspend nearly all activities of the regulator, including supervising financial firms.

This story is developing. Please check back for updates.

Finance

Stocks making the biggest moves after hours: ANET, BMBL, CDNS

Published

12 hours ago

February 18, 2025

Business Finance News

Finance

Bill Ackman raises bid for Howard Hughes, says he will turn it into ‘modern-day Berkshire’

Published

12 hours ago

February 18, 2025

Business Finance News

Bill Ackman, CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, speaks during an interview for an episode of “The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations,” in New York on Nov. 28, 2023.

Jeenah Moon | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Pershing Square’s Bill Ackman hiked his takeover offer for Howard Hughes Holdings, offering current holders of the real estate company $90 a share to create a “modern-day” Berkshire Hathaway.

The billionaire investor said Tuesday that his firm has submitted a proposal to acquire 10 million newly issued Howard Hughes shares at $90 per share, up from $85 per share from January. If the transaction goes through, Pershing Square will own 48% of the real estate developer based in The Woodlands, Texas.

Shares of Howard Hughes fell nearly 5% in extended trading following the news. The stock had closed up 6.8% at $80.60 in anticipation of the announcement.

Ackman will become chairman and CEO of Howard Hughes if the deal comes to fruition. He added that his investment company will not sell any of the shares as it intends to be a long-term investor.

“We will make available the full resources of Pershing Square to HHH to build a diversified holding company, or one could say, a modern-day Berkshire Hathaway,” Ackman said in a post on social media site X. “The new HHH will acquire controlling interests in private and public companies that meet Pershing Square’s criteria for business quality.”

Ackman said he took inspiration from the unusual career path of the legendary “Oracle of Omaha.” The 94-year-old Warren Buffett started out, essentially, as an activist investor and hedge fund manager running a series of private partnerships, until the 1960s when he closed his partnerships and took control of Berkshire Hathaway, a struggling textile business.

Today, Berkshire is worth $1 trillion with businesses in industries including insurance, energy, railroad and retail as well as a massive equity portfolio and more than $300 billion in cash.

Ackman said Howard Hughes will continue to develop and own “master planned communities” such as The Woodlands in Houston and Summerlin in Las Vegas.

“Owning small and growing MPCs that will eventually become large cities in the best pro-business markets in the country is a great long-term business,” he said in the post. “It’s a lot better than a dying textile company.”