Term Sheet: Dec. 22, 2017

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FOLLOW subscribe ANON TIP December 22, 2017 THREE THINGS Good morning, Term Sheet readers. It's been a pleasure to hear from many of you since I took over Term Sheet. I look forward to your thoughtful responses every day. Term Sheet will take a break next week, but I'll be back in your inboxes on Tuesday, Jan. 2. Feel free to stay in touch on Twitter. Wishing you a wonderful holiday season, and a Happy New Year. See you in 2018!   . .   SEQUOIA UPDATE: We have more details on Sequoia Capital's rumored mega-fund. While still in the early stages, the firm's third global fund target is $5 billion. Many people immediately jump to the conclusion that this is a response to SoftBank, but a source tells Term Sheet that's not the case, especially since the Sequoia Fund would pale in comparison to SoftBank's $100 billion Vision Fund. Regardless, it's still a massive amount of capital that will be pumped into startups, likely inflating already-inflated tech valuations. TAX TALK: In light of the GOP tax bill, I want to highlight an excerpt from a collaboration between Fortune and ProPublica. In the piece, Peter Elkind investigates a major tax-avoidance scheme not addressed by the tax plan. Here's a snippet: "A preliminary IRS analysis of syndicated partnerships this summer showed investors claimed an average of $9 in tax deductions for every dollar they invest. People have accomplished that by exploiting a giant loophole: The size of the tax deduction is based on a claim about how much the land's value is diminished by the promise not to develop it. By law, that estimate is delivered by an appraiser hired by the taxpayer. The appraiser is free to assert that the donated land is actually worth many times what investors paid for it, often just months before. That, in turn, inflates the deduction. The process is abetted by law firms, brokers, and accountants who pocket millions in fees." Read the full story here. PE PREDICTIONS: Our friends at PitchBook shared a report of private equity predictions for 2018. Here are six themes you can expect to see next year: The number of active US private equity investors continues will shrink. Buyout multiples to remain elevated. Secondary buyouts will continue gaining in stature. PE investing in software to proliferate. Niche fundraising will continue its rise. LP net cashflows to continue falling. For Term Sheet readers in the private equity space, do you agree or disagree with these predictions? I'd love to hear from you. . . THE LATEST FROM FORTUNE... • How high can Bitcoin's price go in 2018? (by Jen Wieczner & Robert Hackett) • Has Apple lost its design mojo? (by Rick Tetzeli) • 34 business books you won't be able to put down (by Polina Marinova) • Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia on how 'dog-fooding' leads to great design (by Leigh Gallagher) ...AND ELSEWHERE Eric Schmidt stepping down as Alphabet's executive chairman to become a 'technical advisor.' Goldman is reportedly getting into bitcoin and crypto trading. Lessons from the Ample Hills fundraise. Are there any stock bears left in America? . VENTURE DEALS • NodeSource, an Anaheim, Calif.-based company focused on Node.js security and performance, raised $17.5 million in Series B funding. Investors include Silicon Valley Bank, Industry Ventures, Crosslink Capital and RRE Ventures. • Blue Frog Robotics, a Paris-based robotics startup, raised funding of an undisclosed amount. Fenox Venture Capital led the round. . HEALTH AND LIFE SCIENCES DEALS • Tessa Therapeutics, a Singapore-based biopharmaceutical company focusing on T cell therapy for solid tumors, raised $80 million in funding. Temasek led the round, and was joined by investors including EDBI, Karst Peak Capital, Heliconia and Heritas. • FLX Bio Inc, a South San Francisco-based biopharmaceutical company focused on activating the immune system against cancer, raised $60 million in Series C funding. Investors include GV, The Column Group, Kleiner Perkins, Topspin Partners and Celgene Corporation. . PRIVATE EQUITY DEALS • The Hartford agreed to sell Talcott Resolution, its run-off life and annuity businesses, to a group of investors led by Cornell Capital LLC, Atlas Merchant Capital LLC, TRB Advisors LP, Global Atlantic Financial Group, Pine Brook and J. Safra Group for $2.05 billion. • DW Healthcare Partners made an investment in SoClean Inc, an Oxford, Mass.-based provider of sleep apnea cleaning solutions. Financial terms weren't disclosed. • AC&A Enterprises Holdings, LLC, a portfolio company of AE Industrial Partners, acquired EnCore Composite Structures, Inc, a division of the EnCore Group. Financial terms weren't disclosed. . OTHER DEALS • Keywords Studios (LSE:KWS) acquired Sperasoft, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based game and IT development company, for $27 million. • Roche will buy Ignyta Inc (NasdaqCM:RXDX) for $1.7 billion. Read more at Fortune. . EXITS • CyrusOne Inc agreed to buy Zenium Data Centers, a London-based hyperscale data center provider, for $442 million. Sellers include Quantum Strategic Partners. . FIRMS + FUNDS • Section 32, a San Diego, Calif.-based venture firm, has set out to raise $250 million for a second venture fund, according to a filing with the SEC. • Astra Capital Management, a Washington, D.C.-based raised $138 million for its inaugural fund, according to an SEC filing. . SHARE TODAY'S TERM SHEET View this email in your browser. Polina Marinova produces Term Sheet, and Lucinda Shen compiles the IPO news. Send deal announcements to Polina here and IPO news to Lucinda here. . Email Polina Marinova subscribe share: . This message has been sent to you because you are currently subscribed to Term Sheet Unsubscribe here Please read our Privacy Policy, or copy and paste this link into your browser: http://www.fortune.com/privacy FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. For Further Communication, Please Contact: FORTUNE Customer Service 3000 University Center Drive Tampa, FL 33612-6408 Advertising Info | Subscribe to Fortune

Accusations against two more media men

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FOLLOW subscribe SEND TIP December 22, 2017 Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Accusations against two more media men surface, women are poised to outnumber men in med school, and it’s the final newsletter of 2017. A sincere thank you to all of you for reading, sharing, and letting us know what you loved—or loathed—about the Broadsheet this year. Please keep it up! We’re going on hiatus next week but will be back in your inbox in 2018. EVERYONE'S TALKING • Out with the old, in with the new. Here we are, readers: The final Broadsheet of 2017! It's been... quite a year. I think it's fair to say that history will remember 2017 as the year that felled Harvey Weinstein and, in so doing, ushered in the #MeToo movement that is still sweeping through the nation. (Read on for the latest accusations.) In 2018, I hope we will get a clearer sense of where this outpouring leads. It's vital that we remove predators from power—and there's no doubt that more influential men will fall in the coming months—but it's also time to start thinking about what comes next. What can be done to fundamentally change our workplaces and our society so that new monsters don't spring up to replace the ones who have been eliminated? I encourage you all to take a moment or two over the holiday lull to think about it—I know I plan to. Send me your ideas, be they massive and world-changing or just a small thing we could all put into play tomorrow, at kristen.bellstrom@fortune.com. I hope to share many them with your fellow readers as we kick off the new year, so please let me know how you'd like to be identified. Have a peaceful, rejuvenating holiday and a raucous, inspiring new year. See you in 2018. Best, Kristen .   .   ALSO IN THE HEADLINES • A good prognosis. This year's entering medical school class is the first in U.S. history to include more women than men. Fortune • Bye-bye, Bob. Bob Bowman, head of MLB Advanced Media and a major force in sports and digital media, has been ousted from the company "after years of troubling workplace behavior." Among the concerns: He reportedly "engaged in a pattern of behavior that included propositioning female colleagues, allegedly conducting consensual relationships with subordinate coworkers and cultivating a culture of partying and heavy drinking with employees outside the office." WSJ • Out at AlterNet. Don Hazen, head of left-leaning publisher AlterNet, has been placed on indefinite leave in the wake of this BuzzFeed report, in which five of his former employees say he harassed them while they worked at the site (a sixth journalist says she was sexually harassed by Hazen, but was not working for him at the time). According to his accusers, he made unwanted advances, touched them inappropriately, sent explicit emails, and showed them explicit photos. (Hazen says he denies "most of" the allegations.)  Buzzfeed • Told you so. IMF chief Christine Lagarde used new numbers showing that the British economy has stalled since last June's vote to leave the European Union to essentially say "SEE?" to those who ignored her earlier warnings about the economic fallout from the move. "Unfortunately we were not too gloomy," she said. "We were on pretty much on the mark." Fortune • Picking up a big fare. Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing, led by CEO Jean Liu, has raised a $4 billion round of funding, valuing the company at around $56 billion. Recode . content from Deloitte Thinking on your feet Whether it's about sports or a critical cyber-risk project, Deloitte Advisory senior consultant Lauren Boas Hayes knows the importance of making swift decisions. Her advice to professionals is to act fast, stay fit and find meaningful work. Read More Here . IN CASE YOU MISSED IT • UN uprising. The UN voted overwhelmingly to condemn President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel—despite a direct threat by U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley that her nation would consider pulling funding for the body if it did so.  CNN • The Gillibrand question. This FiveThirtyEight piece by Clare Malone asks, "Who is Kirsten Gillibrand and what does she want?" Malone quickly concludes that the New York senator "likely wants to be president," but devotes most of her story to trying to get to the bottom of the first part of her question. FiveThirtyEight • A force off the field. Charlotte Jones Anderson is the EVP and chief brand officer of the Dallas Cowboys—a team owned by her father, Jerry Jones—and one of the most powerful women in football. This story looks at how she's wielding that NFL power in the age of the concussion crisis, "take a knee" movement, and #MeToo. New York Times • Super show. Muppet creator the Jim Henson Company has inked a deal with IAmElemental, a toy company that makes female superhero action figures, to create a TV series based on its characters. New York Post • Meet Mayor Bottoms. Atlanta mayoral candidate Mary Norwood conceded the race two weeks after the election runoff, saying she will not contest the results despite earlier calls for a recount. Her opponent, Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms, won the Dec. 5 runoff by a narrow margin.  CNN Share today's Broadsheet with a friend. Looking for previous Broadsheets? Click here. . ON MY RADAR Janet Elder, a top editor at the New York Times, is dead at 61  New York Times Dozens of companies are using Facebook to exclude older workers from job ads  Propublica The 50 funniest tweets from women in 2017  Huffington Post Hell hath no fury like an evangelical woman speaking out about #MeToo  Slate . . QUOTE My experience with Brett Ratner enforced in me the belief that I deserve to be here and that I should be able to reach for my dreams without being harassed and abused, no matter what economic or social position I find myself in. How will anyone know your worth it if you don't? Olivia Munn, in an essay for Entertainment Weekly . EMAIL Kristen Bellstrom subscribe share: . This message has been sent to you because you are currently subscribed to The Broadsheet Unsubscribe here Please read our Privacy Policy, or copy and paste this link into your browser: http://www.fortune.com/privacy FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. For Further Communication, Please Contact: FORTUNE Customer Service 3000 University Center Drive Tampa, FL 33612-6408 Advertising Info | Subscribe to Fortune