Bill Gates is taking over NYC hotels

The Real Deal

Bill Gates’ Cascade Investment is taking a swing in the hotel industry, paying more than $2 billion to take control of Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts.

Cascade is planning to buy 23.8 percent of a stake belonging to Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, spending $2.2 billion, according to Reuters. The purchase will give Cascade a 71.3 percent stake and operating control of Four Seasons.

Prince Alwaleed is hanging on to his remaining stake. The purchase values the hotel chain at about $10 billion on an enterprise basis.

Gates is taking a risk in a hotel market that has been struggling throughout the pandemic, despite showing some signs of life more recently. The market in New York City is in the midst of a depression as occupancy rates hover well below typical summer numbers. A CBRE study estimated that the market wouldn’t recover until 2025.

Yet Cascade has shown a willingness to spend big during the pandemic. Last October, Cascade formed a partnership with Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC for stakes in Storage Mart, a deal valued at about $2.7 billion.

While specializing in hotels and resorts, Four Seasons has expanded to residential rentals as well. The company has more than 100 hotels and resorts around the world. The company doesn’t typically own its properties, instead operating them on behalf of developers.

Governor Cuomo proposes isolation based education system to be run by Prinicipal Bill Gates

 

NY Post

Remote learning could replace the practice of a teacher standing in front of a classroom instructing students in the post-coronavirus area, Gov. Andrew Cuomo suggested Tuesday.

Cuomo dropped the bombshell while announcing a partnership with the Gates Foundation to “reimagine” education in the post-COVID era.

“One of the areas we can really learn from is education because the old model of our education system where everyone sits in a classroom is not going to work in the new normal,” the governor said at a press briefing Tuesday at his Manhattan office.


“And you do that all across the city, all across the state, all these buildings, all these physical classrooms,” he said. “Why? With all the technology you have?”

“When we do reopen our schools let’s reimagine them for the future, and to do that we are collaborating with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and exploring smart, innovative education alternatives using all the new technology we have at our disposal.”

What's this "the new normal" shit he keeps bringing up? Obviously to justify then implement privatization of all government departments and services while maintaining a climate and culture of fear and a stranglehold on power. This is dangerous.