ACKMAN'S MOONSHOT

Bill Ackman is back to his old tricks, but this time the target is extraterrestrial.

ACKMAN'S MOONSHOT

Good morning,

Bill Ackman is back to his old tricks, but this time the target is extraterrestrial. Pershing Square is proposing a merger between SpaceX and its SPARC vehicle. The goal is to take Elon Musk's rocket company public while giving Tesla shareholders priority access. It is a bold financial engineering play that could set the tone for 2026.

Speaking of Musk, a Delaware court has officially reinstated his massive Tesla pay package, pushing his net worth to a staggering $750 billion. While tech billionaires celebrate, the hedge fund world is cheering for a different reason. Macro funds just posted their best year since 2008.

Getting started.

The Pulse

As of 12/19/2025 market close.

Markets

  • U.S. stocks climbed on Friday as the AI trade found its footing again.
  • The UK's FTSE 100 pushed near an all-time high.
  • Europe's Stoxx 600 hit a fresh all-time high.
  • Canada's TSX index also reached a record peak.
  • U.S. Treasuries managed to post their first weekly gain since November.
    • Indian markets are incredibly quiet, with volatility dropping to a world-beating low.
  • Copper prices rallied toward $12k/ton, nearing the July peak.
  • Tin hit a three-year high and is now up 50% year-to-date.

Earnings

  • Carnival beat Q4 earnings and revenue estimates. They reinstated the dividend thanks to strong demand and solid execution despite broader market pressures (BN)
  • See the full calendar here.

Prediction Markets

  • As Elon says, the most entertaining outcome is usually the most likely.(Polymarket)

Headline Hunt

  • Elon Musk's net worth has touched $750B following the court ruling (RT)
  • Musk won his appeal to reinstate the $56B (now ~$140B) Tesla pay package (CNBC)
  • Citadel is up just 9.3% year-to-date, marking its worst performance since 2018 (BBG)
  • Macro hedge funds are up 16% on the year, their best showing since 2008 (FT)
  • Bridgewater is expanding equity ownership to employees after a blowout year (RT)
  • Japan's CPI rose 2.9% year-over-year, beating the target for the 44th straight month (CNBC)
  • The ECB is warning banks about using SRTs too aggressively (FT)
  • The fear of missing out versus bubble anxiety points to more volatility in 2026 (BBG)
  • China's central bank kept benchmark rates steady for the seventh month in a row (CNBC)
  • BDC stocks are negative on the year with many trading below NAV (WSJ)
  • Emerging Markets are tipped for another stellar performance in 2026 (RT)
  • Inflows into China CSI index ETFs have surged to a record high (BBG)
  • Gold and silver funds had a year of record highs (FT)
  • Japan is seeing a record $350B deal boom (BBG)
  • Data center deals reached a record $61B this year (CNBC)
  • Investment bankers at Bank of America will see a jump in bonuses (RT)
  • Fidelity pledged to crack down on excessive corporate pay (FT)
  • 20% of Google's AI hires in 2025 were former employees returning to the firm (CNBC)
  • The U.S. pitched a "Project Sunrise" plan to turn Gaza into a tech hub (WSJ)
  • The DOJ has released the Jeffrey Epstein files (CNBC)

The Deal Room

M&A / Investments

  • New Mountain Capital president Matt Holt is leaving to launch Thoreau. The new platform will execute a $30B rollup of healthcare tech firms including Datavant, Swoop, Machinify, Smarter Technologies, and Office Ally.
  • A consortium led by Permira and Warburg Pincus will take Clearwater Analytics private at an $8.4B valuation.
  • BioMarin Pharmaceutical agreed to acquire Amicus Therapeutics in an all-cash deal worth $4.8B.
  • MUFG agreed to buy a 20% stake in Indian shadow lender Shriram Finance for $4.4B.
  • Bridgepoint Group will absorb the secondaries team of Newbury Partners in a deal valued at $4.3B.
  • KKR is the frontrunner to acquire Japanese chemical manufacturer Taiyo, listed at $3.5B.
  • HSG agreed to buy Italian luxury sneaker maker Golden Goose from Permira at a $3B valuation.
  • Cuisine Solutions, backed by Bain Capital, is exploring a sale at a valuation exceeding $2B.
  • KKR agreed to buy a 45% stake in Wella from Coty for $750M in cash.
  • Sony is paying $450M to raise its stake in Peanuts to a controlling 80%.
  • Unison Capital agreed to buy Krispy Kreme's Japan operations for $65M.
  • Grab acquired Chinese AI and robotics firm Infermove.

Venture Flow

  • SoftBank is racing to close a $22.5B funding commitment to OpenAI by year-end, using margin loans against its Arm stake.
  • Resolve AI, an autonomous SRE startup, raised a Series A at a $1B valuation led by Lightspeed Venture Partners.
  • Neurable raised a $35M Series A led by Spectrum Moonshot Fund.
  • Nawah Scientific raised a $23M Series A led by Life Ventures.
  • Kontigo, a stablecoin-focused neobank, raised a $20M seed round.
  • Finny, an AI prospecting platform, raised a $17M Series A led by Venrock.
  • ETHGas raised a $12M seed round led by Polychain Capital.
  • Known, a voice AI dating app, raised a $9.7M seed round led by Forerunner Ventures and NFX.
  • Magma raised an $8M Series A led by General Catalyst.

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • Bill Ackman's Pershing Square proposed merging SpaceX with Pershing Square SPARC Holdings. This vehicle would give Tesla shareholders priority access to invest in the rocket company.
  • Adani Airports is seeking a partner ahead of an IPO as it plans $11B in investments.
  • Morgan Stanley is emerging as the frontrunner to lead the SpaceX IPO.
  • Sunway Healthcare is seeking to raise $700M in a Malaysia IPO.
  • GLP selected banks for a 2026 Hong Kong IPO.
  • Practo is in talks with banks for a 2026 IPO.
  • SumUp Payments was advised to list in Europe instead of the U.S.

The Debt Desk

  • Colombia sold a record $6B in peso bonds directly to a foreign investor.
  • UNOC secured a $2B loan from Vitol Bahrain.
  • Geely agreed to lend Polestar $600M and convert $300M of debt into equity.
  • New Fortress Energy reached forbearance agreements with creditors after missing interest payments.
  • PIMCO and Witkoff Group defaulted on a loan exceeding $400M tied to a Santa Monica luxury complex.
  • Tricolor won approval to auction 9,500 vehicles acquired for $125M.
  • Petroperu bonds fell to 64 cents on reports that Peru is considering bankruptcy for the firm.
  • Elliott convinced a court to liquidate Stronghold's oil and gas fund.
  • Flipcause filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Fresh Capital

  • Golden Gate Capital is seeking $1.5B in a tender offer to let LPs cash out of its evergreen fund, plus another $300M for a new PE fund.
  • Sirenia, a new healthcare hedge fund spinning out of Point72, will launch with over $200M in assets.
  • The WSJ profiled Xavier Majic, the hockey pro turned hedge fund manager crushing the AI trade (here).
  • Take a look at how Wall Street's year-end targets for the S&P 500 shifted throughout the year (here).

Today’s Meme Pick

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