• Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger may be hoarding cash in case they get sick and need to reassure investors, Bill Smead told Yahoo Finance this week.
• "When one of them has a medical malady, they've got that bazooka loaded to buy back Berkshire Hathaway stock if people panic," said the founder and investment chief of Smead Capital Management.
• Berkshire boasted $128 billion in cash and liquid assets at the end of September, a 15% increase from the end of 2018...

Reuters

• Charles Schwab officially announced a $26 billion deal to buy TD Ameritrade, combining two of America's largest discount brokerages.
• The combined group will boast 24 million customer accounts and handle more than $5 trillion in client assets.
• Schwab expects the tie-up to generate $1.8 billion to $2 billion in ongoing cost savings, and boost earnings per share by 10% to 15% in the third year after the deal closes.
• Watch Charles Schwab and TD Ameritrade trade live.

• Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan, said he learned a few key lessons from WeWork's failed initial public offering.
• The banking titan said in an interview with CNBC that the situation reminded him of the importance of having a strong corporate governance structure established before a company files its IPO paperwork.
• The comments come after JPMorgan played a lead role in the office-leasing giant's attempted listing...

• AT&T shares jumped as much as 4% early Monday after the telecom giant released a three-year plan to accomplish many goals set out by activist firm Elliott Management.
• The plan calls for the separation of AT&T's CEO and chairman roles, a pause on major acquisitions, and the addition of two new directors.
• AT&T also forecasted earnings per share between $4.50 and $4.80 by 2022, trouncing the consensus analyst estimate of $3.39 per share...

 WeWork is reportedly seeking a $4 billion lifeline from SoftBank and JPMorgan.

• The shared workspace group is in talks with its largest investor for a $1 billion injection, which it hopes to parlay into a $3 billion debt deal with the bank, according to Reuters.
• WeWork is hoping to secure the funds as early as next week, when it expects to outline planned job cuts and asset sales to employees, Reuters reported...

Bob Dudley, the chief executive of oil giant BP, is to step down from the role in February of next year...

Juul on Wednesday said CEO Kevin Burns had stepped down and that K.C. Crosthwaite, an Altria executive, would take over, effective immediately...

• Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess and chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch were charged with market manipulation by a German court, according to an indictment filed Tuesday.
• The case alleges the two misled investors by not telling them about the company's 2015 diesel emissions scandal early enough.
• Former CEO Martin Winterkorn was also charged in the indictment. Winterkorn left the automaker just days after news of the scandal broke...

• Billionaire investor Carl Icahn is moving his New York hedge fund to Florida next year, according to a report from the New York Post.
• The activist investor had been considering the move for the last couple of years, and he told the staff of Icahn Enterprises a few months ago that the Manhattan office would be closing at the end of March 2020.
• Icahn is offering employees a $50,000 relocation benefit if they follow him to Florida...
• Visit the Markets Insider homepage for more stories.

• HSBC made the surprising announcement late Sunday that John Flint would be stepping down as CEO after just 18 months in the role.
• Following the departure, HSBC confirmed its plan to cut up to 2% of the bank's workforce of almost 238,000.
• The London-based bank is just the latest to slash thousands of jobs as the industry faces headwinds from low interest rates, rising trade tensions, and a challenging environment for trading.
• Shares of HSBC fell more than 2% in early trading on Monday...

• Carl Icahn slammed Occidental Petroleum's CEO and chairman Monday, saying its deal to takeover Anadarko was hastily done.
• Icahn and the board of Occidental have been in a public battle over the deal and four director seats on the board.
• In the latest letters to shareholders, Icahn said that Warren Buffett's $10 billion financing of the Anadarko deal took Occidental's CEO "to the cleaners."...

• AbbVie has agreed to buy Allergan in a $63 billion cash-and-stock deal.
• Allergan shareholders will receive 0.8660 AbbVie shares and $120.30 in cash for each Allergan share that they hold, totaling $188.24 per Allergan share.
• The offer represents a 45% premium to the closing price of Allergan's shares on Wednesday...

NEW YORK, June 19, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:PGNX) (“Progenics” or the “Company”), an oncology company developing innovative targeted medicines and artificial intelligence to find, fight and follow cancer, is mailing a letter to shareholders in connection with its upcoming 2019 Annual Meeting (“Annual Meeting”) scheduled for July 11, 2019. Shareholders of record as of the close of business on May 13, 2019 are eligible to vote at the Annual ...

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images; Samantha Lee/Business Insider Some 68% of independent Facebook investors voted to oust Mark Zuckerberg last month, cementing a vocal campaign for the firm to appoint an independent chairman. The tiny activist investor behind the vote, Jonas Kron, said it should be the catalyst for a period of "deep soul searching for the Facebook board."

• Renault shares plunged 8% on Thursday morning after Fiat Chrysler pulled its offer for the French carmaker.
• French government officials on Renault's board postponed making a decision on Wednesday.
• Renault wanted more time to secure the support of long-time rival Nissan.
• "It has become clear that the political conditions in France do not currently exist for such a combination to proceed successfully," Fiat Chrysler said...

• Financial-company CEOs are increasingly concerned about cyberattacks on the financial system.
• David Hunt, head of investment management at Prudential, highlighted the risk at the Milken Institute Global Conference.
• Other CEOs, including JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon, have suggested cyber attacks are a top risk.

The CEOs of some of the top financial institutions in America are increasingly worried about the risk of a cybersecurity attack on the nation's financial system...

• Waste Management and Advanced Disposal, two of America's largest waste-management companies, are joining forces in a $4.9 billion deal.
• Advanced Disposal's shares surged 20% on the news.
• The tie-up is expected to immediately boost earnings and cash flow, and generate $100 million in annual savings by cutting costs and slashing capital spending...

PRNewswire/ - TransAlta Corporation ("TransAlta" or the "Company") (TSX:TA) (NYSE:TAC) today announced that leading independent proxy advisory firms, Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. ("ISS") and Glass, Lewis & Co ("Glass Lewis"), both issued final reports recommending that shareholders vote FOR all TransAlta management proposals, including director nominees, being presented at the Company's upcoming shareholders' meeting...

• Carl Icahn sold his roughly 2.7% stake in Lyft ahead of its initial public offering, The Wall Street Journal says.
• Lyft's share price has plunged more than 20% since debuting on the Nasdaq.
• Icahn's stake was valued at roughly $550 million at the IPO price of $72...

• Shaquille O'Neal is joining Papa John's board of directors and investing in nine Atlanta area locations.
• Papa John's shares were up more than 3% following the news.
• Watch Papa John's trade live.

The NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal is joining Papa John's board of directors and investing in nine locations in the Atlanta area, the company said Friday. He will also become a brand ambassador for the pizza chain.

• The billionaire Nelson Peltz is joining Aurora Cannabis as a strategic adviser.
• Peltz is the CEO and a founding partner of Trian Fund Management.
• He has served as the CEO and chairman of Triarc Companies, which owned Arby's and Snapple, and has been on several company boards.
• Aurora Cannabis shares were up 8.5% following the announcement.

The billionaire Nelson Peltz is getting into the cannabis business...

• Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Democrat and presidential candidate, proposed on Friday a plan to break up big tech companies like Amazon, Facebook, and Alphabet's Google.
• The plan doesn't appear to immediately threaten Amazon, said Eric Sheridan, an analyst at UBS, who spoke with Markets Insider on Friday.
• Still, regulation is the top concern he discusses with investors, as far as challenges facing large-cap tech names...

• Barrick Gold's hostile takeover bid for Newmont Mining was rejected on Monday.
• Barrick Gold proposed the $17.8 billion deal last week in what would have created the world's largest gold producer.
• Watch Barrick Gold and Newmont Mining trade live.

Newmont Mining's board of directors on Monday rejected Barrick Gold's $17.8 billion hostile takeover bid. The offer would have created the world's largest gold producer...

PRNewswire/ -- International Paper Company (NYSE: IP) announced the election of Anders Gustafsson to its Board of Directors effective March 1, 2019. Mr. Gustafsson, age 58, is the Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of...