'Surefire' Bet on Ant Entraps Investors Hoping for a Payday
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P2JW041000-5-A00100-17FFFF5178F ***** WEDNESDAY,FEBRUARY 10,2021~VOL. CCLXXVII NO.33 WSJ.com HHHH $4.00 DJIA 31375.83 g 9.93 0.03% NASDAQ 14007.70 À 0.1% STOXX 600 410.42 g 0.1% 10-YR. TREAS. À 1/32 , yield 1.156% OIL $58.36 À $0.39 GOLD $1,835.30 À $3.40 EURO $1.2121 YEN 104.56 Toll Mounts as Search for Avalanche Survivors Pushes On Senate What’s News Rejects Trump’s Business&Finance Bid to ome of the world’s S biggest investorshad been on the cusp of amulti- End Trial billion-dollar windfall from their betsonChina’sAnt but are now stuck with shares Six Republicans join that won’t pay off soon. A1 Democrats in saying Salesforce plans formost of itsemployees to work re- they have jurisdiction motely part or full time after over former president the pandemic and to reduce itsreal-estatefootprint. A1 BY SIOBHAN HUGHES China’sHuaweifiled a AND lINDSAY WISE lawsuit in the U.S. disputing itsdesignation as anational S WASHINGTON—TheSenate security threat by the FCC. B1 votedonTuesdaytoproceed PRES with thesecond impeachment SoftBank plans to in- ZUMA trial of Donald Trump,after an vest $900 million in gene- A/ afternoon of argumentsoN sequencing firm PacBio. B1 XINHU whether it wasconstitutional Twitteradded users HIMALAYAN HORROR: Rescue workers on Tuesday carry the body of a victim retrieved near the Dhauliganga hydropower to tryaformer president. through the holidayquarter project in India. At least 32 people are dead and 165 missing after the collapse of a glacier Sunday unleashed flooding. A10 Six Republican senators and said it continued to add joined all Democratsinassert- moreinJanuary, the month ing the Senate’sjurisdiction it banned Trump. B1 even though Mr.Trump,im- peached by the House last Vornado Realty is ex- month in the wake of the Jan. 6 ploring waystoend alucra- ‘Surefire’Bet on Ant Entraps Capitol riot, is no longer in of- tivepartnership with Trump’s fice.The 56-44 vote setsthe real-estatecompany. B1 stagefor several days of pre- Thenumber of help-wanted sentationsfromboth sides on ads returned to pre-pandemic InvestorsHoping foraPayday the factsofthe case,which are levels in January, asign to begin on Wednesday. that hiring could pick up. A2 Sixty-seven voteswill be re- quired to convict Mr.Trump, Nasdaq,the NYSE and Some of the world’sbiggest Pincus LLC,Carlyle Group Inc. cense to operateAlipay, its tors areturn while it stayed meaningatleast 17 Republi- Cboe sued the SEC to block investors were on the cusp of and T. Rowe Price Group Inc. highly popular mobile app,Ant private, the people added. cans would need to join all 50 itsplan to overhaul the public amultibillion-dollar windfall took part in acoveted fund- had to be domiciled in mainland Theforeign investorsdidn’t senatorsinthe Democratic cau- data feeds that broadcast from their bets on Ant Group raising by Ant that raised $14 China. But that also limited the receiveany voting rightsiN cus. Only ahandful of Republi- stock prices to investors. B13 billionand minted the finan- company’sability to raise funds Ant, which wasvalued at $150 cans have signaled they would The S&P 500 fell 0.1% By Jing Yang cial-technologygiant as the directly from foreign investors. billion in the June 2018 deal, vote guilty. and the Dowslipped 0.03%, in Hong Kong and Julie world’smost valuable startup. Theglobal investorsagreed the world’slargest-ever startup Mr.Trump paid close atten- while the Nasdaq advanced Steinberg in London Morethan $10 billion of the to terms that were highly fa- fundraising.None wasgiven a PleaseturntopageA4 0.1% to another record. B13 money came from international vorable to Ant, and which lim- seat on Ant’sboard. Co.Now they arestuck with investors, which bought shares ited their ability to cash out if Terms of Ant’s2018 fund- Trial turns focus on handful CD Projekt,the game shares that won’t payoff soon. in an offshoreshell company the companydidn’t end up go- raising,which hadn’t been re- of Republican senators........ A4 maker behind “Cyberpunk In 2018,anexclusivegroup set up by Ant to raise funds in ing public,according to people ported previously, showthe GOP lawmakers fault Trump 2077,” said itsinternal systems of global private-equity firms U.S. dollars. Theunusual ar- familiar with the matter. Ant pitfalls of taking stakes in lawyers’ presentations......... A4 were hit by acyberattack. B1 and mutual-fund managersin- rangement came about because also didn’t provide alisting popular startups that areable Vornado examines ties to ThePepsiCo unit that sells cluding Silver Lake, Warburg in order to secureapayment li- time frame or guarantee inves- PleaseturntopageA12 Trump company........................ B1 Aunt Jemima pancakeprod- uctsisrebranding them under the name Pearl Milling Co. B1 Salesforce Homeowners Face End to Aid Virus Cases Drop World-Wide Mortgage forbearance plans, which allowed borrowers to postpone payments on federally backed mortgages during the To Shrink pandemic, are set to expire in the coming months. A3 The Senate voted to 56% Over Month, proceed with the second Shareofmortgages in forbearancebyinvestortype,weekly impeachment trial of Its Office Trump,after an afternoon 12% Stirring Optimism of argumentsonwhether it 10 Portfolio wasconstitutional to trya Footprint and private former president. Six Re- BY JON KAMP Unlikeduring earlier mo- publican senatorsjoined all 8 AND TALAL ANSARI mentsinthe pandemic,case Democratsinasserting the BY KATHERINE BINDLEY countsare heading loweramid Ginnie Mae Senate’sjurisdiction. A1,A4 6 Themost severesurge of amass-inoculation effort. But Themost severe surge of Salesforce.com Inc.plans for theCovid-19 pandemic in the even aftersuch asteep decline, most of itsemployees to work U.S. has weakened significantly, cases and hospitalizations re- the Covid-19 pandemic in the 4 Fannie Mae/ remotely part or full time after Freddie Mac according to key metrics, main higher than during ear- U.S. has weakened signifi- the pandemic and to reduceits though public-health experts lier surges, deaths continue to cantly over the past month, real-estatefootprint as are- 2 andepidemiologistsurgecau- hover near records, and the according to several key met- sult, atop executivesaid, tion, given the spread of highly rise of morecontagious coro- rics,though public-health As of Jan. 31 showing Covid-19’slasting im- 0 contagious newvariants. navirus variantscould quickly expertsand epidemiologists pact on howcompanies man- Newly reported cases have worsen the spread. urge caution, given the April MayJune July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. agetheir workforces. 2020 2021 dropped 56% over the past “The concern right nowis spread of newvariants. A1 Thebusiness-software pro- Source:Mortgage Bankers Association month, based on a seven-day that while we’re seeing a de- The virus that causes Covid-19 most likely jumped vider,which has 54,000 global average, marking asignifi- cline in cases from the holiday employees,isamong the larg- cantly steeper fall than the surges, as we identifymore from one species to another est companies to spell out how U.S. saw after the spring and PleaseturntopageA6 before entering the human it plans staff to work afterthe summer surges.Hospitaliza- population and is highly unlikely to have leaked health crisis recedes.Chief Pandemic DelayFuels tions have declined 38% since Pandemic deepens divide in from a lab, a WHO investi- People Officer Brent Hyder JaN 6. The seven-day average Pennsylvania.............................. A6 said Salesforce’s changes of Covid-19 testsreturning States to get an increase in gative-team leader said. A8 would include revamping of- Polio’sResurgence positive fell over the past vaccine allotments.................. A7 Schumer said Senate fice layoutstoincrease collab- week to 6.93%, the lowest Covid-19 likely jumped from Democrats are pushing to oration spaceinstead of hav- since Oct. 31. animal, WHO says.................. A8 include an increase in the ing a“sea of desks.” As federal minimum wage in employees areexpected to do Cases rise after nearing global eradication; their Covid-19 relief pack- much of their independent agedespitereservations work remotely,the mock-ups misinformation, mutation are hurdles from some in the party and of the newoffices feature café- Salesforce. other potential hurdles. A2 style seating,open-air confer- BY SAEED SHAH put ahalt to that progress. Thehelicopter crash that enceareas and privatenooks, AND BETSY MCKAY In March, house-to-house with an emphasis on clean vaccination teams working killed Kobe Bryant and eight #1 CRM. desks and social distancing. PESHAWAR, Pakistan—Af- acrossPakistan were forced to othersoccurred primarily be- cause the pilot became dis- “We’renot going back to the terdecades of work,polio had stop their work because of oriented afterflying into way thingswere,” Mr.Hyder been wiped out almost every- Covid-19.Asaresult, polio re- Ranked #1 for CRM Applications basedon said in an interview. “I don’t whereinthe world. All that surged, including amutated clouds,the NTSB found. A3 IDC 2020H1 Revenue Market ShareWorldwide. believethat we’ll keep every wasleftwerepocketsinAf- form of the virus.Ithas now 19.8% TheU.S.Chamber of spaceinevery city that we’re ghanistan and Pakistan. Medi- been detected in samples Commerce named Suzanne in, including SanFrancisco.” calexpertshoped 2020 would takenfromsewers in 74%of Clark as itsnew chief,suc- Salesforce expectsmore be the last year the main form Pakistan in late2020,upfrom ceeding retiring CEO Thomas PleaseturntopageA2 of the virus,which canperma- just 13% in early 2018. Donohue,who has led the nently paralyze or cause “Nowthe virus isn’t just in organization since1997. A5 Pandemic disrupts co-working death, posed athreat. select pockets. Therisk is ev- PleaseturntopageA12 Hong Kong’s highest court business models....................... B6 Thecoronavirus pandemic denied bail to pro-democ- racy publisher JimmyLai. A11 My Covid Valentine: Couch, Takeout, Movie 5.3% 4.8% CONTENTS Personal Journal A13-14 3.9% Arts in Review..