Bill Gates Goes Full Ray Dalio

Together with

Good Morning,

Bill Gates published a 6000-word essay on the dangers of AI and his proposals to protect against repercussions of rapid growth. Reads just like Ray Dalio, except he swaps US debt for AI.

Elsewhere, Druckenmiller 'proudly' used AI to dunk on his protege Bessent, Bessent's bond intervention is putting the Treasury on collision course with Fed, and data center backlash is slowing industry growth.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

Learn more about the Litquidity portfolios and subscribe to the strategies on Autopilot.*

Markets

• US stocks closed mostly flat yesterday as traders weighed inflation data and awaited Nvidia's blockbuster earnings

Earnings

• Nvidia beat on Q2 earnings and revenue and forecast estimates as revenue more than doubled per usual (CNBC)

• Salesforce beat Q2 earnings and revenue estimates as its AI products pick up traction; CEO Benioff dismissed 'SaaSpocalypse' fears as predictions that none of which have come true (CNBC)

• CrowdStrike issued a Q2 beat-and-raise as skyrocketing demand for AI security tools led it to its best quarter in history (CNBC)

• Kohl's missed Q2 revenue estimates amid 'persistent financial pressures' on shoppers (RT)

• What we're watching this week:

  • Today: Marvell Technology, Workday, Best Buy, Dollar General, Ulta Beauty

• Full calendar here

Prediction Markets

• $30T TAM. Greater than the entire US GDP btw…

• Deposit $10 and get a $20 bonus with code LIT on signup, only on the Polymarket US app

Headline Roundup

• Druckenmiller proudly used AI to dunk on protege Bessent's bond moves (WSJ)

• Bessent's bond intervention puts US Treasury on collision course with Fed (FT)

• Bill Gates calls for 'human reserved' jobs in age of AI (CNBC)

• Fed-favorite PCE inflation rose 3.7% YoY (CNBC)

• Insurers pile into deals allowing banks to offload default risk (FT)

• Citi expects record Korea capital issuance in 2026 as deals jump (BBG)

• Nordic business leaders are exploring a unified regional stock exchange (BBG)

• Options turnover in India sinks amid stricter rules (BBG)

• Australia's SWF CEO Raphael Arndt will step down (RT)

• Mark Walter's TWG says there is 'no fire sale' and 'no fraud' (FT)

• China's YMTC aims to overtake SK Hynix in memory chip market (FT)

• Anthropic will pay Nscale $45B for AI computing power (BBG)

• Hundreds of OpenAI agents hacked Hugging Face and covered tracks for weeks (RT)

• Data center backlash is slowing industry growth (RT)

• Meta settled for $18B with 48 states over teenage harm lawsuit (WSJ)

• US voters now favor Democrats on cost of living (RT)

• Plus-size clothes are disappearing at retailers in Ozempic era (BBG)

A Message from Plaid

How Robinhood's "Fraud Fighter" Protects People

When you look at Michael Silver's career path, the word "nontraditional" might come to mind - but for him, it's the most natural progression in the world. The veteran has always been in the business of protecting people, whether that means serving in the Marine Corps or his 15-year stint in fraud prevention for companies like JPMorgan, Capital One, and Robinhood.

In the latest installment of their "Fraud Fighters" series, Plaid sat down with Michael to discuss the greatest difficulties facing the industry today, how GenAI is changing the fraud landscape, and how Plaid's solutions can assist with detection and prevention.

Read the latest "Fraud Fighter" article for free right here from Plaid.

Deal Flow

M&A / Strategic

• A consortium led by Indonesian conglomerate Jhonlin Group is in talks to acquire a majority stake in $28B-listed Indonesian coal producer Bayan Resources

• France's BNP Paribas and South Korea's KB Kookmin Bank are in separate talks to acquire a 15% ‌stake in Vietnam's $8.5B-listed Techcombank

• Asset manager Victory Capital will acquire First Eagle Investments from PE firm Genstar Capital in a $7B cash-and-stock deal

• Vanguard will acquire wealth management fintech platform Altruist for $4B

• South African telecoms group MTN is seeking local investors to acquire a 30% stake in tower operator IHS Nigeria for ~$2B

• Activist Trian Fund Management has no plans to make ‌a bid for $1.6B-listed burger chain Wendy's

• Aussie property developer Ingenia Communities offered to buy residential property developer Peet in a $710M cash-and-stock deal at a 17% premium

• Pipeline operator Enbridge will acquire Salt Creek Midstream's crude oil gathering business ​for $600M cash

• A consortium led by Japanese trading house Sumitomo Corp became the fourth party to bid for Aussie vehicle leasing firm FleetPartners with a $582M cash offer at a 35% premium

• Indian beverage group Tilaknagar Industries is open to another large deal after ‌its $500M purchase of the Imperial Blue whisky brand from Pernod Ricard

• UK-based sports streaming platform DAZN will acquire EverPass Media, which holds commercial rights to live sports assets such as NFL Sunday Ticket

• Virtual healthcare provider Sword Health is in talks to acquire mental health app Headspace

VC

• Newsletter startup Puck is in advanced talks to raise an investment from RedBird Capital Partners at a $250M valuation

• Unrivaled, a professional women's basketball league, raised a $100M Series C at a $650M valuation led by Ten Pillars Sports Fund

• Deep Cogito, a post-training and reinforcement-learning research platform for frontier AI, raised a $43M Series A led by TQ Ventures

• Voya Energy, a clean tech and sustainable energy infrastructure startup, raised a $35M Series A led by Energy Impact Partners

• Breedr, the platform that assigns every cow a digital record, raised a $27M Series B led by Partech

• Perceptron, a startup developing frontier vision models for physical AI and vision-guided robots, raised a $21M funding round led by Bessemer Venture Partners

• Agentrys, a startup focused on agentic design automation for chip design, raised $24.5M comprising a $19M seed round led by Etna Labs and a $5.5M pre-seed led by MediaTek

• Arga, a startup building training environments for enterprise AI agents, raised a $10M seed round led by General Catalyst

• QueryStory, an enterprise data-analysis startup, raised a $6M seed round at a $60M valuation led by Brightmind Ventures and New York Life Ventures

Access the complete VC deal flow and data on Fundable

IPOs / Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Franco-German tankmaker KNDS is set to restart investor meetings about a possible IPO this year which could secure a $15B valuation

• UK insurer Prudential plans to sell a 2% stake in Indian asset management JV ICICI Prudential Asset Management at a 2%-7% discount to raise ~$320M

• Purple Style Labs, the multibrand luxury fashion retailer backed by Bollywood stars Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan, plans to raise $72M in an India IPO

Debt

• SoftBank is in talks for a $10B-$20B bond sale to help refinance a loan for its investment in OpenAI

• French food services company Sodexo sold $1.3B of bonds and will also cut 1k jobs

• Portugal's biggest construction company Mota-Engil secured a 30-year concession with the Democratic Republic of Congo to operate a copper and cobalt railway, potentially backed with $1B of US financing

• Dolce & Gabbana is seeking to raise cash after banks agreed to a debt waiver

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

• Distressed Florida high-speed rail Brightline reached a deal with munis insurer Assured Guaranty for $350M in new loans if it files Chapter 11 bankruptcy

• A Hong Kong court ruled that liquidators of collapsed Chinese property group Evergrande can pursue PwC globally for audit failings

Funds / Secondaries

• Private markets FOF StepStone raised $1.7B for its its debut infrastructure secondaries fund

• Hauser Private Equity raised $400M for its fifth fund

• Institutional investors are backing Blackstone and KKR funds for wealthy individuals

Crypto Sum Snapshot

• SEC prepares overhaul of crypto custody rules for investment firms

• Almost all major banks are exploring launching stablecoins

• Bitcoin and Gold funds draw $7B amid scarcity trade

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

Exec's Picks

• Tax season is a nightmare, and if you've got non-W2 income (K-1s, a rental, carry) you probably relate. If you're tired of a firm that only reacts, check out OLarry. They offer year-round advisory and filing all for one flat fee. A few friends have already switched.

• Bill Gates wrote a 6000-word essay on the risks for AI and his proposed solutions. Same vibes as Ray Doomio with US debt tbh. Read it here.

  • And if you're lazy, here's five key takeaways from the essay. Courtesy of Bloomberg.

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!

Meme Cleanser

Merch Store: Visit our merch store to shop our latest apparel, shoes, bags, accessories and more.

Litquidity Ventures: Accredited investors & qualified purchasers within the Litquidity community can gain access to alternative investments such as venture, late-stage growth, and private equity through Litquidity Ventures. Interested? Fill out this form.

☎️ Book a call with Lit: Want to pick Litquidity's brain on business advice, insights, or just chat to say what's up? Buy his time here.

Launch your own newsletter: Have great content ideas and looking to launch your own publication? We highly recommend beehiiv to get started.

*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.