THE FED IS UNDER INVESTIGATION

Larry Ellison is not letting go.

Good afternoon,

Larry Ellison is not letting go. Paramount Skydance has sued Warner Bros. Discovery and launched a proxy fight to block its merger with Netflix. It is a desperate, high-stakes move that proves the streaming wars are far from over.

Meanwhile, Apple is finally making its AI move, partnering with Google's Gemini to overhaul Siri. And in the private markets, LPs are cashing out at record rates, offloading $110 billion in fund stakes last year. The liquidity crunch is real, but so is the appetite for deals.

Getting started.

The Pulse

Markets

U.S. stocks reversed early losses to close slightly higher despite the J. Pow drama.
- The S&P 500 and Dow hit fresh all-time highs.
Japan's Nikkei 225 surged 4% to a new all-time high.
China's stock turnover jumped to a record $516B.
Oil hit a seven-week high on tariff threats against Iran's partners.
The dollar fell 0.3%, its worst day since Christmas.
Yuan hedging costs hit a three-year low.

Markets

This week's lineup:
- Today: JPMorgan
- Wednesday: Wells Fargo, Bank of America
- Thursday: TSMC, BlackRock, Morgan Stanley
- Friday: State Street, PNC
See the full calendar here.

Prediction Markets

A line no one expected crossed (Polymarket)

Headline Hunt

Alphabet has joined the exclusive club, becoming the fourth company to hit a $4T market cap (RT)
Data centers are going to be expensive - Moody's says they will need over $3T in investment through 2030 (BBG)
DeepSeek founder Wenfeng had a good year; his quant hedge fund gained 57% in 2025 (BBG)
The leverage is back. Hedge fund-lite trades have returned from the dead with $153B in volume (BBG)
Private Equity LPs wanted out, offloading a record $110B in fund stakes last year (FT)
Apple has officially partnered with Google's Gemini to power Siri (CNBC)
Meta has tapped ex-Goldman partner and Trump advisor Dina McCormick as president (RT)
The DOJ going after Powell has revived the "Sell America" trade (BBG)
Trump says it wasn't him. He denied involvement in the DOJ's subpoenas of the Fed (NBC)
The Senate is pushing back, threatening to block Trump's Fed nominee over the Powell probe (BBG)

The Deal Room

M&A / Investments

Paramount Skydance is going to war. They launched a proxy fight to nominate directors to Warner Bros. Discovery's board, hoping to kill a merger with Netflix ($83B) in favor of their own $108B offer. They also sued WBD.
UniCredit is eyeing a stake in BMPS, a peer listed at $28B, after failing to snag Banco BPM.
The Golden State Warriors parent company, Golden State Group, is selling a 5% stake at an $11B valuation.
Apollo, Temasek, PGIM, and ICONIQ are doubling down on QXO, increasing their investment to $3B to fund acquisitions.
Kotak Mahindra Bank and Blackstone-backed Federal Bank want to buy $2.5B of Deutsche Bank's retail assets in India.
Patrick Drahi is trying again. The Altice owner relaunched a sale of his 50% stake in OXG Glasfaser at a $2.3B valuation.
Blackstone wants to unload its UK rental business, Leaf Living, for over $1.3B.
The NBA is pitching investors on a European league, eyeing team valuations up to $1B.
Jacobs Capital is looking to sell Swiss outdoor brand Mammut for $585M.
Smith & Nephew agreed to buy Integrity Orthopaedics for $450M.

Venture Flow

Harmattan AI, a French defense-tech startup, raised a $200M Series B at a $1.4B valuation led by Dassault Aviation.
Accelsius, a liquid-cooling startup, raised a $65M Series B led by Johnson Controls.
VelaFi, a stablecoin infrastructure play, raised a $20M Series B led by XVC and Ikuyo.

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

OmniVision Integrated Circuits jumped 16% in Hong Kong after raising $616M.
GigaDevice Semiconductor popped 40% in Hong Kong after raising $600M.
BitGo, a crypto wallet firm, wants to raise $200M in an IPO at a $1.96B valuation (up from $1.75B in 2023).
BrainCo, a brain-computer interface startup, filed for a Hong Kong IPO aiming for several hundred million.

The Debt Desk

It's messy in Europe. Administrators for the largest steelworks in Europe sued former owner ArcelorMittal for $8B.
TD Bank Group is testing the waters for a significant risk transfer (SRT) on a $5B loan portfolio.
HSG is getting $1.05B in debt financing from Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and UBS to back its $2.9B purchase of Golden Goose.
Indonesia sold $2.7B in dollar bonds—the first deal of its kind in Asia this year.
Argentina secured cash to repay $2.5B to the US from an FX swap.
Altice USA is borrowing another $1.1B from JPMorgan to refinance existing debt from Goldman Sachs and TPG.
Standard Chartered raised $1.1B in its first green bond sale.
Power Finance Corp. in India plans to sell $555M in retail bonds.
SQM, the Chilean chemicals giant, wants to sell $500M in dollar notes.
BBVA is looking to sell off $444M in bad mortgages.

Bankruptcy Watch

FJT Partners is pushing bondholders of Chinese developer Vanke to call a default on $1.3B in debt.
STG Logistics filed for Chapter 11. They raised $150M in financing and plan to cut debt by 91%.
Braskem, the Brazilian petrochemical firm, managed to pay interest on its dollar bonds.

Bankruptcy Watch

CD&R is swinging big, seeking $26B for its thirteenth flagship PE fund.
Apheon raised $1.5B for its sixth European midcap fund.
Bansk closed $1.45B for its second consumer-focused fund.

Crypto Corner

World Liberty Financial, which is linked to Trump, launched a $3.4B crypto lending platform called World Liberty Markets.

Today’s Meme Pick

— (@)

🤝 Partner with us: Looking to align your brand with a community of driven professionals? We are currently accepting inquiries for strategic sponsorships and collaborations. Reach out to discuss how we can create value together.

📧 Start your own publication: Ready to turn your insights into a newsletter? If you have the ideas but need the right tools, we suggest beehiiv as the best platform to build and scale your audience.