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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson (L) is shown around by The Hut Group founder and CEO Matthew Moulding (R) during a visit to a fulfillment center in Warrington, in north-west England on December 10, 2019.
BEN STANSALL | POOL | AFP via Getty Images

LONDON — British e-commerce company THG has said it knows of “no notifiable reason” for a 35% plunge in its share price on Tuesday.

The Softbank-backed firm‘s stock suddenly nosedived during late afternoon trade to notch its worst single-day performance since listing on the London Stock Exchange last September.

The move came following the company’s capital market day, which set out to reassure investors and analysts that THG could turn things around, with shares now down 65% since the turn of the year.

In his presentation, intended to assuage concerns and explain THG’s Ingenuity sales platform, CEO and founder Matt Moulding lashed out at short-sellers, but analysts were left disappointed.

In a statement to the market on Wednesday, THG added that “no material new information was disclosed at the event.”

“Since its IPO in September 2020, THG has consistently delivered ahead of its targets set at the time of IPO and recently reported a strong first half performance across all divisions, with Group revenue of £958.8 million ($1.31 billion), +44.7% year-on-year,” the company said.

“The Group also has a very strong liquidity position as it enters its peak trading season, with available cash as at 30 September 2021 of £700.0 million across long dated 3-5 year facilities.”

Although capital markets days are intended to help analysts and investors better understand certain aspects of a business, THG’s effort was “eye-opening for the wrong reasons,” according to Russ Mould, investment director at British online stockbroker AJ Bell.

“It seems that attendees didn’t get the level of information they wanted, and messages were quickly fed back to HQ to dump the stock,” Mould said.

“Having joined the stock market with a lot of fanfare, the market now seems to be taking the view that THG was grossly overvalued and that breaking the business up creates more questions than answers.”

THG, previously known as The Hut Group, sells vitamin, nutrition and beauty products, running brands such as MyProtein, Lookfantastic and Mankind, while licensing out its technology. Its 500 pence per share IPO was one of the biggest technology floats of 2020.

Since announcing plans in September to spin off its beauty business in favor of focusing on THG Ingenuity — an e-commerce platform handling web sales and logistics for companies to sell products directly to consumers — the group’s share price has cratered.

SB Management, a division of Japanese tech giant SoftBank, announced in May that it would invest $1.6 billion into Ingenuity, giving it a 19.9% stake, while also taking a $730 million stake in THG itself.

A ‘conundrum for investors’

THG’s shares initially began to rebound on Wednesday, before falling more than 10%, and were down 4.6% by late morning. Mould suggested that the valuation following Tuesday’s freefall presents a “conundrum for investors.”

“On one hand, sentiment is incredibly weak towards the stock and there is no point going against the flow if the market has decided THG is a dud,” he said.

“On the other hand, investors are now being given the chance to snap up shares in a business at a price where the original source of excitement is now essentially thrown in for free.”

THG Ingenuity initially prompted substantial excitement, with key clients including Nestle and Unilever offering it significant credibility for investors.

Mould suggested that a lot of product manufacturers now want a direct-to-consumer service, meaning the growth prospects for the business are theoretically strong.

SoftBank’s buy option values the Ingenuity division at £4.6 billion at current exchange rates, but at Wednesday morning’s share price, the entire group was valued at around £3.15 billion, Mould highlighted.

Mould said this would effectively mean investors could buy the beauty and nutrition operations while acquiring the tech and logistics offerings for “nothing.” However, the big question remains as to what each business would look like as a standalone entity in terms of cost base, capital expenditure and cash flow, he suggested.

“THG has been criticized for not being open enough about the financial breakdown. Until it starts providing some answers, the shares could well remain under pressure as it’s very hard to properly value this business without all the right information,” he said.

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Perplexity AI in final stages of raising $500 million round at $9 billion valuation

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Perplexity AI in final stages of raising 0 million round at  billion valuation

Perplexity AI logo is seen in this illustration taken January 4, 2024. 

Dado Ruvic | Reuters

Perplexity AI, the artificial-intelligence search engine startup, is in the final stages of raising $500 million in funding at a $9 billion valuation, a source familiar with the situation told CNBC.

The startup competes against the likes of Google and ChatGPT-maker OpenAI. Perplexity most recent valuation was $3 billion in June. Institutional Venture Partners, a Bay Area-based firm, is leading the new round, according to the source, who requested anonymity since the funding is not yet public.

Perplexity started the year with a roughly $500 million valuation. Since then, the company has continued to attract investor interest amid the generative AI boom, raising four funding rounds so far this year.

Last week, OpenAI launched a search feature within ChatGPT, its viral chatbot, that positioned it to better compete with Perplexity, as well as leading search engines like Google and Microsoft‘s Bing. OpenAI’s search feature offers up-to-the-minute sports scores, stock quotes, news, weather and more, powered by real-time web search and partnerships with news and data providers, according to the company.

Despite the AI boom, Perplexity has been embroiled in controversy due to accusations of plagiarizing content from media outlets. The New York Times last month sent Perplexity a “cease and desist” notice, claiming that the startup scrapes the news outlet’s content to generate answers. Perplexity has denied the allegations.

In July, Perplexity debuted a revenue-sharing model for publishers. Any time a user asks a question and Perplexity generates ad revenue from citing an article in its answer, Perplexity will share a percentage of that revenue with the publisher, the company said.

Media outlets and content platforms including Fortune, Time, Entrepreneur, The Texas Tribune, Der Spiegel and WordPress were among the first to join the company’s “Publishers Program.” Dmitry Shevelenko, Perplexity’s chief business officer, told CNBC in a July interview that if three articles from one publisher were used in one answer, the partner would receive “triple the revenue share.” Perplexity worked on its revenue-sharing model since January, and the company’s goal is to have 30 publishers enrolled by the end of the year, Shevelenko said.

Perplexity’s app has been downloaded more than 2 million times, and it answers more than 230 million queries a month, the company said in August. U.S. queries have increased eightfold in the past year, according to a pitch deck for potential advertisers that was viewed by CNBC.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the new funding round.

WATCH: Perplexity unveils AI election hub: Here’s what you need to know

Perplexity unveils AI election hub: Here's what you need to know

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Bitcoin drifts near $69,000 on election night as crypto investors see choppy trading ahead

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Bitcoin drifts near ,000 on election night as crypto investors see choppy trading ahead

Manuel Augusto Moreno | Moment | Getty Images

Cryptocurrencies were slightly higher Tuesday evening as investors waited for direction on the potential outcome of the U.S. presidential election.

The price of bitcoin was last higher by 2% at $69,105.03, according to Coin Metrics. Earlier, it rose as high as $70,522.84. It is currently 5% off its all-time high, after trading near it last week.

Stocks tied to the price of the cryptocurrency got a boost in earlier trading during regular stock market hours. Exchange operator Coinbase and MicroStrategy, which often trades as a high beta play on the price of bitcoin, advanced 4% and 2%, respectively.

Investors are expecting bitcoin trading to be choppy until a clear winner is declared. A victory for Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to bring risk of downside moves to the price of bitcoin, while traders anticipate a bump in price in the event of a win by former President Donald Trump.

“The election is having a massive influence on crypto,” said Ryan Rasmussen, head of research at Bitwise Asset Management. “Expect bitcoin – and crypto more broadly – to be choppy in the days ahead … until we have definitive election results.”

“If Trump wins, I believe we’ll see new all-time highs,” Rasmussen added. “If Harris wins, I expect a decent short-term sell-off, with prices taking a month or two to recover. But eventually, either way, I think we go higher.”

Bitcoin is widely expected to rise to a new record in coming weeks. In the 2012, 2016 and 2020 elections, bitcoin saw returns of roughly 87%, 44% and 145% in the 90 days following election day, respectively. That’s in part because election years happen to fall on Bitcoin halving years, when the supply of the cryptocurrency ratchets downward. Post election returns have also tended to align with major Federal Reserve policy shifts. This year, the market is looking forward to further interest rate reductions.

Earlier Tuesday, bitcoin wavered around the $70,000 mark, after hitting that level last week for the first time since March and approaching its record of $73,797.68. At about $69,000, bitcoin has been trading at its fair value price, according to CryptoQuant. That means that if the election proves to be a positive catalyst in the coming days, bitcoin can rally and is poised to establish a new record, CryptoQuant analyst Julio Moreno said.

“For now, everyone we’ve spoken to is keeping their powder dry,” said James Davies, CEO at crypto futures and options trading platform Crypto Valley Exchange. “I’ve heard from numerous leading market makers and traders and can say with conviction that almost everyone is set up to react. They don’t even know which way markets will go based on [the] result. There’s likely to be massive short-term volatility whichever outcome.”

This year’s presidential election has been called the most important one in the crypto industry’s lifetime. Many view a Harris win as a threat to crypto, the extent to which has been debated throughout this election cycle. Trump, on the other hand, is seen by many as a force for good in the industry after he presented himself earlier this year as the pro-crypto candidate and has been courting the industry more directly than Harris has.

Don’t miss these cryptocurrency insights from CNBC PRO:

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Amazon CEO Andy Jassy denies that 5-day office mandate is a ‘backdoor layoff’

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Amazon CEO Andy Jassy denies that 5-day office mandate is a 'backdoor layoff'

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy speaks during the New York Times DealBook Summit in the Appel Room at the Jazz At Lincoln Center on November 30, 2022 in New York City. 

Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy denied speculation that the company’s five-day in-office mandate was made to further reduce head count or appease city officials.

“A number of people I’ve seen theorize that the reason we were doing this is a backdoor layoff or we made some sort of deal with the city, or cities, and that’s why we were having people come back and be together more often,” Jassy said at an all-hands meeting Tuesday, according to remarks obtained by CNBC. “I can tell you both of those are not true.”

Amazon announced the new mandate in September. The company’s previous return-to-work stance required corporate workers to be in the office at least three days a week. Employees have until Jan. 2 to adhere to the new policy.

The mandate has spurred backlash from some Amazon employees who say they’re just as productive working from home or in a hybrid work environment as they are in the office. Others have said the mandate is in line with Jassy’s continued cost-cutting efforts, suggesting that it’s a means of forced attrition. Amazon has laid off more than 27,000 employees since the beginning of 2022.

Amazon did not respond to a request for comment. Jassy’s comments were earlier reported by Reuters.

“This was not a cost play for us,” Jassy said at the meeting, which coincided with Election Day. “This is very much about our culture and strengthening our culture.”

At the time he announced the mandate, Jassy said that a return to the office full time would allow Amazon to be “better set up to invent, collaborate and be connected enough to each other and our culture to deliver the absolute best for customers and the business.”

Amazon’s cloud boss Matt Garman also defended the decision last month, saying staffers who don’t agree with the company’s new policy can leave, CNBC previously reported. Garman also said he’s been speaking with staffers about the mandate and “nine out of 10 people are actually quite excited by this change.”

Garman’s comments further rankled Amazon employees.

Roughly 500 staffers who work for Amazon’s cloud computing business, Amazon Web Services, penned a letter to Garman last week criticizing his remarks and questioning the merits of a five-day in-office mandate, according to a copy of the letter viewed by CNBC.

“We urge you to reconsider your comments and position on the proposed 5-day in-office mandate,” the letter said. “Remote and flexible work is an opportunity for Amazon to take the lead, not a threat. We want to work for a company and for leaders that recognize and seize this moment to challenge us to reinvent how we work.”

The letter included anecdotes from AWS staffers who detailed how the five-day in-office mandate will impact their “life and work.” One staffer said they were denied a disability accommodation and were being told to return to the office, and another employee said they were recently told to use paid time off to take care of a sick family member instead of being allowed to work from home. Another staffer said the RTO mandate would require them to be in an office “over 200 miles from my home.”

At least 37,000 employees have joined an internal Slack channel created last year to advocate for remote work and share grievances about the return-to-work mandate, CNBC previously reported. Staffers previously pushed back on the 3-day in-office mandate, with some staging a walkout at Amazon’s Seattle headquarters to express their dissatisfaction.

Jassy acknowledged Tuesday that the five-day in-office mandate will be an adjustment for employees.

“I understand that for a lot of people and we’re gonna be working through that adjustment together,” he said.

WATCH: AWS CEO says employees unhappy with 5-day office mandate can leave

AWS says employees unhappy with 5-day office mandate can leave

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