Two Huangs Don’t Make a Right

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Good Morning,

Jensen Huang admitted to cheating on his wife with a Chinese spy. Nvidia's board of directors will investigate his affair to assess whether national security or company secrets were compromised.

Elsewhere, OpenAI is launching a PR campaign to change public view of data centers, more hedge fund pods blew up, and Wall Street is preparing for a nightmare scenario with Elizabeth Warren set to take power in a new Senate.

The best deals start before the market knows they're coming. Grata Intelligence brings proprietary market data, deal context, and agentic execution together to help you spot sellers months early and start moving while everyone else is still searching.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

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Markets

• US stocks closed mixed on Friday as investors repositioned after a historic selloff

  • Nasdaq fell for a fourth-straight week

  • Tech stocks posted their worst week since 'Liberation Day' in April 2025

Earnings

• What we're watching this week:

  • Tuesday: CoreWeave

  • Thursday: Cerebras, Nebius, Cisco, Applied Materials

• Full calendar here

Prediction Markets

• No majority ownership, no voting power, no dual-class share structure. Looked like plain old textbook governance until the tail-risk hit: espionage + affair 2-in-1 combo. How does anyone even prepare for something like this lol?

• Sign up to trade on the Polymarket US app with code LIT and they'll send you a $25 bonus

Headline Roundup

• Jensen Huang admitted to cheating on his wife with a Chinese spy (BBG)

• US warned China it must 'immediately' meet terms of Busan trade deal (FT)

• Trump administration canceled a meeting of high-profile tech panel (RT)

• Democrats vow to impeach Trump officials and investigate donors (FT)

• Market's knee-jerk reaction to midterms may reverse (WSJ)

• Hedge funds dump positions and cut staff as selloff deepens (WSJ)

• Systematic funds stoked $2.3T tech-stock rout (BBG)

• Stock funds are up 10% YTD (WSJ)

• Money-market fund inflows surge on AI caution (RT)

• Retail traders cautiously buy stocks after worst rout since 2025 (BBG)

• Wall Street races for megadeals as countdown begins on Trump era (BBG)

• Elizabeth Warren's power in new Senate is a Wall Street nightmare (WSJ)

• Two credit pods at Millennium blew up (BBG)

• Berkshire stepped up share buybacks with $9.6B of purchases (FT)

• Blackstone doubled lock-up periods for some Asian investors (FT)

• Goldman didn't share partner gender breakdown for first time in years (BBG)

• Meta's bond sale shows new reality for tech debt (BBG)

• OpenAI kicks off charm offensive to change public view of data centers (RT)

• Apple saves $2.7B in taxes by booking profits in Singapore (FT)

• SpaceX board member Donald Harrison quit one day after election (BBG)

• TSMC is considering making advanced memory chips (TI)

• Tesla will wind down Cybertruck production (RT)

• Colossal accused ex-staffer of stealing 'de-extinction' secrets (FT)

• Protein craze fuels investment boom in livestock health (BBG)

A Message from Grata Intelligence

From seller to shortlist, before anyone else calls.

The best time to move on an opportunity is before anyone else knows they exist. Grata Intelligence gives you that edge.

With proprietary market data, firm knowledge, deal context, and Blueflame, Datasite's M&A agent, working together in one workspace, Grata Intelligence helps you spot sellers 6-12 months before they hit the market and move from target shortlists into diligence while everyone else is still figuring out where to look.

See more of the market. Know where to focus. Turn early intelligence into your next deal.

Discover what other deal teams miss →

Deal Flow

M&A / Strategic

• Activists Toms Capital Management and Kimmeridge Energy Management are still pressuring $42B-listed Devon Energy to sell itself after Devon concluded a review of asset sales

• PE firm Silver Lake and Saudi SWF PIF held talks to LBO gaming software provider Unity at a $25B valuation

• SoftBank and Swiss industrial company ABB are exploring carving out its Chinese unit at a $2B-$3B valuation after China blocked SoftBank's $5.4B acquisition of ABB

• Anthropic agreed to pay $3.4B for gas-fired generators for data centers in its largest such deal yet

• $3B-listed networking software and equipment firm Extreme Networks is exploring a sale after receiving takeover interest

• Danish pension ATP joined USS Investment Management.and Guotong Romeo in weighing a sale of its stake in Spanish gas distributor Redexis at an over $1B valuation

• Nuvee-owned UK asset manager Schroders plans to sell Singapore's Wisteria Mall to raise around $172M as Singapore's CRE market booms

• A group led by the Moelis family took a minority stake in NWSL soccer club Gotham FC for $100M at a $350M valuation

• F1 and MotoGP-owner Liberty Media acquired the super-voting class shares of chairman emeritus John Malone

• Spanish engineering company ACS has not considered a tender offer for its listed German subsidiary Hochtief and is not contemplating a sale of Hochtief-owned US builder Turner Construction's

VC

• OpenAI raised $11B as part of its final pre-IPO round at a $1.25T valuation from Coatue, T. Rowe Price, SoftBank, Sequoia, Founders Fund, and a16z

• EOS-X Space, a space tourism balloon operator, raised a $120M funding round at a $1.2B pre-commercial valuation led by Global Emerging Markets

• Tenspresso, an AI chip startup focused on long-context AI, is in talks to raise $50M at a $500M valuation after earlier taking $20M from Striker Venture Partners

• Betski, an online gaming technology company, raised a $15M strategic investment from Nimbus Capital

• BanTu Technology, an AI-based 3D virtual-idol startup, raised a $10M round from Lenovo Venture Capital, IDG Capital, and others

• Physicl, a simulation and high-fidelity 3D synthetic data startup, raised a $10M seed round led by Inovia Capital

Access the complete VC deal flow and data on Fundable

IPOs / Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Investors are now pushing Anthropic to IPO at an even lower $1.25T valuation

• KKR is in talks with banks for a record $4B Japan IPO of Japanese logistics operator Logisteed Holdings

• Alphabet built a $550M stake in Qualcomm

• Apollo-backed Swiss dental startup vVardis is seeking to raise $230M at a $4.4B valuation in a US IPO

• Hillhouse-backed luxury villa operator NOTA plans to raise $150M in a Japan IPO

• Germany is considering an IPO of nationalized energy utility Uniper

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

• Google has bought out Crusoe's data center site in Wyoming and will invest $17B itself after Crusoe failed to lock in customer

• KPS Capital Partners-backed auto parts supplier Autokiniton shelved a deal to amend and extend a $1.1B leveraged loan

• Microsoft is winding down its deal to rent AI compute from Oracle

• BC Partners is seeking to acquire a $50M DIP loan from Saudi SWF PIF to take control of collapsed PGA-rival LIV Golf

Funds / Secondaries

• Yosemite, the cancer-focused VC of Steve Jobs' son Reed Jobs, raised $350M for its second fund

Crypto Sum Snapshot

• Crypto industry braces for reckoning over Trump ties

• Binance's CFO quit following $6B hack

Crypto Sum compiles the most important stories on everything crypto. Read it here.

Lit's Picks

• 2026 has been defined by strong performance across both Equity Capital Markets and M&A. However, with recent valuation pushback in the equity markets, could a dual-track process be the answer for dealmakers looking to drive competitive tension and maximize valuation? Check out Mizuho's insights.

• Read Jensen Huang's email memo to Nvidia staff here.

  • And the statement from Nvidia's board of directors.

Financial Services Recruiting

If you're a junior banker looking for your next career move, check out Litney Partners, a recruiting firm established by Litquidity and Whitney Partners (the oldest purely financial services executive search and consulting firm).

We aim to place strong candidates across private equity, hedge funds, venture capital, growth equity, credit, and investment banking.

We're currently seeking talent for some incredible roles. Head over to Litney Partners to drop your resume / create your profile and we'd love to get in touch!

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*DISCLAIMER: Investment advice provided by Autopilot Advisers, LLC ("Autopilot"), an SEC-registered investment adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investing carries risks, including loss of principal. As always, be smart out there. Litquidity is compensated to promote AutoPilot. Compensation details available upon request.