00:00.330 --> 00:02.640 Sean Murray: Today on deBanked News, American Express is 00:02.640 --> 00:07.890 acquiring Kabbage? Whattt!!! We've got a word also on Broker 00:07.890 --> 00:11.760 Fair 2021. And tech is making a big bet on New York office 00:11.760 --> 00:15.390 space. It's all coming up. Let's go over to Johny Fernandez. 00:15.660 --> 00:17.700 Johny Fernandez: Hey Sean, so I'm standing right outside the 00:17.700 --> 00:21.060 New York office headquarters of American Express. Now, earlier 00:21.060 --> 00:24.240 this week, it announced that it had purchased an online small 00:24.240 --> 00:28.080 business lender called Kabbage. Now, what has people talking is 00:28.080 --> 00:31.410 its price which has not been disclosed yet, but we do know 00:31.410 --> 00:35.850 that its rival OnDeck recently sold for less than 10% of its 00:35.850 --> 00:40.680 IPO value. And a key distinction in this purchase is that Amex 00:40.680 --> 00:43.830 said that it will not purchase the company's loan portfolio, 00:43.890 --> 00:48.060 but rather its technology data and people. Anna Marrs, 00:48.210 --> 00:51.630 president of Global Commercial Services at American Express 00:51.810 --> 00:54.480 said that the company has been expanding beyond their 00:54.480 --> 00:58.320 commercial card products for years. American Express first 00:58.320 --> 01:02.130 announced a merchant financing program as early as September 01:02.160 --> 01:06.210 2011. And they had been an unspoken competitor of Kabbage 01:06.240 --> 01:10.290 ever since. But in the public relations and technology game, 01:10.500 --> 01:14.520 Kabbage seemed to be winning the war. As a combined force, it 01:14.520 --> 01:18.630 could be a game changer in small business lending. Now this area 01:18.630 --> 01:21.570 of New York City is significant because across the street is the 01:21.570 --> 01:25.650 headquarters of Goldman Sachs, a legitimate fintech player, after 01:25.650 --> 01:29.070 the introduction of Marcus. We also know that if you head down 01:29.070 --> 01:32.130 the block south from here, you'll bump into Convene by 01:32.130 --> 01:35.490 Brookfield Place, which many in the financial world know will be 01:35.490 --> 01:39.810 the home to Broker Fair 2021 deBanked has produced nine 01:39.810 --> 01:44.280 conferences since 2018. Its signature annual event for the 01:44.280 --> 01:48.090 commercial finance industry, Broker Fair, will once again 01:48.090 --> 01:51.540 take place in New York City. And when the industry returns in 01:51.540 --> 01:56.070 person, it's gearing up to come back big. Broker Fair 2021 will 01:56.070 --> 02:01.260 be on March 22 2021 and we will be airing the event live all day 02:01.260 --> 02:03.840 and also conducting different interviews throughout the event. 02:03.870 --> 02:06.300 And if you're interested in learning more about the event, 02:06.300 --> 02:09.420 you can log on to brokerfair.org. That's all for 02:09.420 --> 02:12.720 me now. I'm Johny Fernandez with deBanked News. Sean, back over 02:12.720 --> 02:13.050 to you. 02:13.540 --> 02:16.390 Sean Murray: Thanks, Johny. I myself will definitely be there, 02:16.540 --> 02:18.940 because I'm the host of the whole show. And when the 02:18.940 --> 02:21.520 industry does return in person, well we've got a few surprises 02:21.520 --> 02:24.250 in store for everybody. I want to touch on something that was 02:24.250 --> 02:27.220 raised last time when we talked about Facebook. Facebook, as you 02:27.220 --> 02:30.940 may recall, is acquiring 730,000 square feet of office space 02:31.210 --> 02:35.380 directly across Penn Station. Now we've got Amazon, and Amazon 02:35.380 --> 02:38.170 has recently acquired an entire building in New York. It's the 02:38.170 --> 02:42.370 former Lord and Taylor office on Fifth Avenue. Now Amazon says 02:42.370 --> 02:44.740 that they're not going to be moving anyone in until 2023. 02:44.770 --> 02:47.830 That might be due partially to the pandemic, but it's pretty 02:47.830 --> 02:51.700 clear that tech companies have taken a long term and bullish 02:51.790 --> 02:55.270 viewpoint on office space in New York. Now not everybody is 02:55.270 --> 02:59.200 exactly on the same page here. This tweet is not about office 02:59.200 --> 03:02.470 space, per se, but it's from the co-founder of Morning Brew, 03:02.710 --> 03:06.010 which is a popular finance newsletter, and he thinks that 03:06.010 --> 03:09.790 real estate prices in New York, in the city, are never coming 03:09.790 --> 03:13.720 back to pre COVID levels ever. Now time will tell if he is 03:13.720 --> 03:16.540 right, but as a longtime New Yorker myself, I tend to 03:16.540 --> 03:19.960 disagree with that statement. That's all for today. Thank you 03:19.960 --> 03:22.660 for watching. I'm Sean Murray, with deBanked News.