Kanye will no longer buy Parler after the parties mutually agreed to terminate the transaction. Oh, and remember that funny ‘Kanye for president 2024’ t-shirt you bought? Yeah, you should probably stop wearing that. Put it in the box with your ‘Live Strong’ bracelet, Bill Cosby DVDs and Jared from Subway poster.

The lowdown

• 🧠 Elon Musk expects clinical trials of Neuralink brain implant to begin in six months.

• 🏠 Blackstone limits redemptions from its real estate fund sending shares down 7%.

• 🌈 Florida pulls $2 billion in investments from BlackRock over ESG backlash.

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Nestle makes two acquisition errors

Food and drink processing conglomerate Nestlé is generally good at making acquisitions, with the net annual return on those made since 2018 between 11% and 13%. It does make errors, though, and in an investor seminar held last week, the company acknowledged two of its acquisitions had not worked out as planned.

The first is the meal kit business ‘Freshly’ which was purchased during the pandemic era of booming food deliveries. Freshly will be spun off into a joint venture with private equity firm L Catterton.

The second acquisition misstep relates to the purchase of a peanut allergy treatment business, acquired as part of the purchase of Aimmune Therapeutics. Nestlé stated that they will ‘explore strategic options’ for the treatment, following slower than expected adoption by patients and healthcare professionals.

The move is part of Nestlé’s expansion into healthcare, but there does appear to be some conflict of interest in the maker of the ‘Nuts’ chocolate bar – basically a poor man’s Snickers – also selling the medication that stops the bar from closing your airways. It’s a little like the tobacco companies selling vapes to help people quit smoking. Breathtaking really.

The content we're consuming today

• FT on YouTube: Why did Carlyle’s CEO resign?

• The New York Times: Where Cowboys Fly and Cattle Set Sail: An Epic Food Journey ($).

• The Economist: Trustbusters should let Microsoft buy Activision Blizzard ($).

Off-balance sheet items

• Please support Bob Iger’s return to Disney by going to see Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3. The trailer just dropped, and I’m embarrassed to say that I got chills when Groot said, ‘we are Groot!’

The bottom line