Jack Otter and the ‘Barron’s Roundtable’ panelists discuss the top three tips investors should be considering heading into next week.
Hyatt Hotels will buy Playa Hotels & Resorts for about $2.6 billion including debt, net of cash, the company said on Monday, seeking to boost its presence in Mexico and the Caribbean.
The acquisition follows rising interest in upscale and luxury offerings outside the U.S. as more Americans take advantage of a stronger dollar.
Playa runs 24 high-end, all-inclusive resorts across Mexico, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic.
Hyatt, which owns a 9.4% stake in Playa, expects the deal to close later this year. (Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Hyatt has offered $13.50 per Playa share held, representing a 40.5% premium to its last close on December 20, before the companies announced deal talks. Playa’s shares were up 2% in premarket trading on Monday.
Hyatt, which owns a 9.4% stake in Playa, expects the deal to close later this year.
It said it would identify third-party buyers for Playa’s owned properties and expects to gain at least $2 billion from the sale of assets by 2027.
This is part of Hyatt’s asset-light business model, where the operator prefers not to own physical properties but to manage or franchise them.
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NEW ORLEANS – As a rookie, New York Giants wide receiver Jalin Hyatt experienced a subpar season after the team had just come off a run that involved the team’s first playoff win since they won Super Bowl XLVI.
What transpired this past regular season was even worse.
A 3-14 record befell the Giants, who cut ties with their quarterback, Daniel Jones, who was signed to a four-year, $160 million contract extension in the prior offseason.
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Jalin Hyatt of the New York Giants is seen at MetLife Stadium on November 26, 2023, in East Rutherford, New Jersey.(GETTY IMAGES)
Meanwhile, Saquon Barkley, who the Giants slapped with a franchise tag instead of extending, chose the Philadelphia Eagles in free agency this past offseason and led the league in rushing, while helping his team reach Super Bowl LIX this week.
So Hyatt, making his way down to New Orleans to represent World of Hyatt on Radio Row, knows 2024 was a year not to write home about. However, he had nothing but an optimistic view going into next year.
“Obviously, not what we want as a team, but I think for us, we’ve just got to keep building,” he told Fox News Digital. “We have great players on our team, and hopefully we can bring in the right guys next year to help us win. I have full faith in this team, so we’ll see what we can do.”
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Hyatt knows the only way forward after a bad season is to take that first step in the right direction.
Personally, he’s coming off a down year after showing flashes in his rookie campaign. With the Giants struggling heavily on offense, Hyatt’s role diminished, especially with the emergence of first-round pick Malik Nabers added to the mix of receiver talent. Hyatt played only 33% of offensive snaps in 2024 compared to 51% in his rookie year.
Hyatt will be heading to Dallas after his appearance in the Big Easy to begin his offseason training with the idea of competing for a top receiver position in year 3 with New York.
Wide receiver Jalin Hyatt(IMAGN)
“Knowing that I’m going to play on the outside more than I thought, I gotta continue to keep getting stronger,” he said about his goals for the offseason. “For me, it’s just keep developing – working on catches, working on routes, working on things I know I need to work on and be ready for next year.”
And moving on for the Giants also includes looking ahead to a new quarterback throwing him footballs. While there are free-agent options out there, the NFL Draft is where many believe the Giants, with the third overall pick, will try their luck again at a quarterback of the future.
Whoever that may be – Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders and Miami’s Cam Ward are the frontrunners at the quarterback position — Hyatt knows the characteristic trait he wants most in his new signal caller.
“Whoever comes in, I just want them to be a leader,” he said. “I want them to be a leader. I want them to understand when you come to the Giants, you have media you got to worry about – a lot of things that playing in New York you have to go through. Not only that, but say we’re losing, I want a quarterback to come in that knows how to be confident and comes in next game and has more confidence in himself.
“So, it’s going to be fun next year. I believe that we have the right guys in the room. We just got to add a couple more pieces and we’ll be all right.”
The Giants do have building blocks, with Nabers and fellow rookie running back Tyrone Tracy at the forefront on offense. But Hyatt also discussed that last part: having the right guys in the locker room to lead the way along with the coaching staff led by Brian Daboll heading into what many consider to be a make-or-break fourth season at the helm.
“I just say that because of how we fought, even with the losing season that we had,” Hyatt said in regard to senior leadership. “Obviously, we didn’t win a lot of games and had a lot of losses back-to-back. Just seeing that team coming into practice, practicing like we’re undefeated, practicing like we want to win. Just seeing the guys still going out there showing effort in Weeks 16, 17 and 18 shows, I can just tell, the senior leadership in that room.
“For us, we just got to start on the right path and the right foot. We got to start with a win to start the season off and build from there.”
MAKING MEMORIES WITH WORLD OF HYATT
With the last name fitting perfectly, Hyatt has been partnered with World of Hyatt for the past three years, and they’ve collaborated on a fun experience that anyone can take part in back home and in this year’s Super Bowl host city.
World of Hyatt’s FIND Experiences in New Orleans and New York City offer custom experiences where Hyatt members can bid points on the football star’s Guide to New Orleans, for example, which includes a two-night stay at the Hyatt Centric French Quarter New Orleans with a guest, food and walking tours and even a custom welcome video from the football star himself.
Super Bowl LIX will be streamed on Tubi.(Tubi)
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“It’s one of the best things we’re doing so far with the FIND Experiences. We just keep building together, and we’ll see where we get from there.”
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NEW ORLEANS – New York Giants wide receiver Jalin Hatt was hungry coming off his Biletnikoff Award-winning season with the Tennessee Volunteers when he was selected in the third round of the 2023 NFL Draft.
But college success doesn’t always translate smoothly to the pros. Great coaches, and even better teammates, can help ease that process for young players looking to make their mark on the league.
That’s why Hyatt will be putting divisional rivalries to the side when it comes to Saquon Barkley, the superstar Philadelphia Eagles running back who was Hyatt’s teammate in 2023.
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Wide receiver Jalin Hyatt at New York Giants minicamp at their practice complex in East Rutherford, N.J.(Imagn)
“I’m proud of Saquon,” Hyatt told Fox News Digital while discussing his partnership with World of Hyatt at Super Bowl LIX. “When I came in as a rookie when he was here [with the Giants], he was like a big bro for me.
“Helping me through the facility, helping me through plays on the field. Just really being a leader for me, and I have so much respect for him for that. Just to see what he’s doing over there with the Eagles, I’m really not surprised what he’s doing. He’s a special player. I’m definitely going to be rooting for him for sure for what he can do. I’m just proud of him.”
Now, Giants fans, don’t get on Hyatt too quickly after saying he will be rooting for Barkley. It doesn’t mean he wants to see the Eagles hoisting the trophy Sunday night.
He thinks their opponent, the Kansas City Chiefs, will win for a third straight year.
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“I love Sa, I love Saquon. That’s one of my friends, so I’ll be rooting for him personally,” Hyatt said, smiling. “But I do like the Chiefs. I like Pat Mahomes. I like Xavier Worthy. I like a lot of those guys over there. Not only that, they’ve been there. They’re comfortable being in that spotlight.”
Hyatt touched on the “two business decisions” made between Barkley and the Giants in the offseason, which sent the franchise’s fan base into a spiral. Barkley was clearly the team’s best player, but after spending so much on Daniel Jones with a four-year, $160 million contract, the Giants slapped the franchise tag on their star running back and never worked out an extension.
Barkley ended up getting what he wanted from the Eagles, while the Giants released Jones mid-season during a 3-14 campaign.
Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley greets fans at MetLife Stadium.(Robert Deutsch/Imagn Images)
“I think that Sa, if he didn’t want to be here with the Giants, he’s obviously going to have his places he wanted to go and where he wanted to play,” Hyatt said. “Obviously, with the Giants, it’s a big business with them. ‘Do we want him? Do we want to continue to have Saquon on our team, or do we want to go somewhere else?’ I just think it was a business decision on both ends.
“Obviously, I wanted Saquon to stay just because he’s big bro for me, helping me as a rookie when I came in. So, I was sad when he left.”
Hyatt knows he and the team have to move on.
That’s what Barkley has tried to do, yet the trolling by NFL fans on the Giants has gotten significantly worse in recent weeks because of his performances. When Barkley spoke Monday night to quarterback Jameis Winston about possibly joining the Giants in free agency, it had people speculating he was taking a jab at his former squad.
But the Giants must sleep in the bed they made, and the only way to silence critics will be winning games.
Hyatt will be doing his part to have a bounce-back 2025 season after a down year in 2024 (he played just 33% of offensive snaps), which begins with offseason training in Dallas after the Super Bowl.
New York Giants wide receiver Jalin Hyatt (13) attempts to catch a pass in front of Philadelphia Eagles safety Tristin McCollum (36) during the second half at MetLife Stadium.(Vincent CarchiettaImagn Images)
But first, Hyatt will be watching closely Sunday to see his friend and former teammate play.
MAKING MEMORIES WITH WORLD OF HYATT
With the last name fitting perfectly, Hyatt has partnered with World of Hyatt for three years, and they’ve collaborated on a fun experience.
World of Hyatt’s Find Experiences in New Orleans and New York City offer custom experiences where Hyatt members can bid points on the football star’s Guide to New Orleans, for example, which includes a two-night stay at the Hyatt Centric French Quarter New Orleans with a guest, food, walking tours and a custom welcome video from the football star himself.
Super Bowl LIX will be streamed on Tubi.(Tubi)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“It’s one of the best things we’re doing so far with the Find Experiences. We just keep building together, and we’ll see where we get from there.”
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Scott Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital.
