Good Morning! Amazon surpassed Walmart as the world’s biggest company by sales. Blue Owl is limiting investor withdrawals which is raising fresh concerns in private credit. And Walgreens has cut hundreds of jobs after its private equity buyout.

Hims & Hers is acquiring Australia’s Eucalyptus for up to $1.15 billion. NFL Hall of Famer Steve Young’s HGGC raised a new $3.2 billion fun. And the U.S. Supreme Court is set to convene today, with a potential decision on tariffs in play.

Plus: How much the top hedge fund managers made in 2025, how PE debt left a major VPN exposed to Chinese hackers, and why VC has entered its villain era.

In the busiest deal year of the decade, you need tools that perform. Set your team up for success and try Endex today.

SQUEEZ OF THE DAY

Banking Culture on Trial

A federal jury in New York is about to weigh in on a question that cuts to the core of investment banking culture: is sacrificing sleep a job responsibility?

The case of Kathryn Shiber, a former investment banking analyst at Centerview Partners who was fired after demanding eight hours of sleep, heads to trial next week.

In 2020, shortly after joining the firm, Shiber disclosed that she had a diagnosed mood and anxiety disorder and required eight to nine hours of consistent sleep each night. The firm later agreed to a set of “guardrails” that would allow her to be off duty between midnight and 9 a.m., but available the rest of the time, seven days a week. 

But less than three weeks later, she was fired. In the meeting, Centerview’s chief operating officer allegedly chastised her for even applying for investment banking roles given the requested nine-hour sleep window. Shiber worked for Centerview for just 10 weeks before she was terminated. 

Now Shiber is suing Centerview under the Americans with Disabilities Act and New York law, seeking millions of dollars in damages for lost future income, back pay, and emotional distress. She argues the termination derailed her investment banking career. In the five years since leaving Centerview, she says she has earned roughly $582,000, far below what she would likely have made had she remained in banking.

Centerview counters that junior bankers work long and unpredictable hours as a core function of the job, and that availability at odd hours is essential when deals are live. The case lands in a post-pandemic Wall Street still grappling with burnout after years of public scrutiny around analyst working conditions.

Banks introduced “protected weekends” and hour caps following the now-infamous Goldman analyst slide deck in 2021, but the unwritten rule of banking remains unchanged: when the deal is live, you are live. The legal question now is whether that norm rises to the level of an essential job function.

Shiber’s legal team argues that constant overnight responsiveness is more a cultural expectation than a business necessity, especially in an era of distributed teams and digital workflows. A federal judge has already ruled there is a “genuine dispute” over whether around-the-clock availability is truly essential, sending the case to trial.

Takeaway: Wall Street has long treated exhaustion as a cost of doing business. This case asks whether it’s actually part of the job description. While on paper, this is a disability discrimination case. In practice, it’s a referendum on Wall Street’s operating model.

If Centerview wins, it reinforces the idea that investment banking is an inherently extreme job with limited room for accommodation. If Shiber wins, firms may face pressure to formally define work-hour expectations and new legal exposure if analyst burnout crosses into protected territory.

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HEADLINES

Top Reads

• Amazon surpasses Walmart in annual revenue for first time, as both chase AI-fueled growth (CNBC)

• Blue Owl curbs investor liquidity following asset sale, shares plunge 8% (CNBC)

• Walgreens cuts hundreds of jobs after private equity buyout (BB)

• Hims & Hers Health to acquire Australia's Eucalyptus for up to $1.15 billion (CNBC)

• NFL Hall of Famer Steve Young’s HGGC raises new $3.2B fund, beating target (BB)

• Wall Street braces for Supreme Court tariff decision (YF)

• How much the top hedge fund managers made in 2025 (BB)

• How private equity debt left a leading VPN open to Chinese hackers (BB)

• Nestlé,the world’s biggest food company, doesn’t want to make ice cream anymore (CNN)

• Eric Trump shrugs off bitcoin's recent slump: 'If you don't have the backbone ... go invest in some boring bond' (YF)

• Mortgage rates drop to lowest level in nearly 4 years (YF)

• U.S. trade deficit totaled $901 billion in 2025, barely budging despite Trump's tariffs (CNBC)

• New York drops robotaxi service proposal for outside NYC in blow to Waymo (CNBC)

• Tariffs paid by midsize US companies tripled last year, a JPMorganChase Institute study shows (AP)

• Quantum's big leap puts data centers in the spotlight (CNBC)

• Why New Balance’s ‘dad shoes’ are beating Nike as sales surge 19% (CNBC)

• Goldman says most large-cap stock pickers beat market since 2007 (YF)

• CVC is working with Goldman Sachs on €1 billion marina business sale (BB)

CAPITAL PULSE

Markets Rundown

Market Update

• U.S. equities edged lower as investors digested Walmart’s earnings and outlook

• Bond yields moved lower, with the 10-year Treasury at 4.07%

• Asian markets finished mostly higher as several exchanges reopened after Lunar New Year; China remained closed

• U.S. dollar strengthened versus major currencies

• WTI crude traded higher amid rising supply concerns tied to stalled U.S.–Iran talks

Economic Data Highlights

• Initial jobless claims fell to 206K, below expectations

• Year-to-date claims average ~213K, below the 2025 average of 226K

• Continuing claims edged up to 1.87M, in line with forecasts

• Job openings declined to 6.5M in December vs 7.4M unemployed

• Unemployment rate remains low at 4.3%, consistent with a low-hiring, low-firing labor market

Reported Earnings

• Walmart reported Q4 results that narrowly beat earnings and revenue estimates

• 2026 guidance came in below expectations, pressuring shares

• Revenue beat suggests consumer spending remains resilient, despite weak sentiment indicators

• With 80%+ of S&P 500 companies reported, 75% have beaten estimates

• Q4 earnings growth revised up to ~12.4%, from ~7.2% at quarter-end

• 10 of 11 sectors expected to post earnings growth, led by technology and industrials

Outlook

• Earnings momentum remains broad-based and supportive of equity markets

• 2026 EPS growth expected near ~14%, making profits the key driver of returns

• Attractive opportunities remain in U.S. large- and mid-caps, international small- and mid-caps, and emerging markets

Movers & Shakers

• (+) Deere ($DE) +12% after the tractor maker announced strong earnings.

• (–) Blue Owl Capital ($OWL) -6% after the private credit fund halted redemptions.

• (–) Klarna ($KLAR) -27% after bad loan costs soared; posting a $273M net loss.

Prediction Markets

• 2025’s US GDP growth for Q4 set for this morning at 8:30am EST.

• Trade on real-world events with Kalshi. Use code OWS to get a $10 bonus when you trade $10.

Private Dealmaking

• Hims & Hers Health will acquire Eucalyptus, a digital health company, for $1.15 billion

• Korsana Biosciences, an Alzheimer’s disease biotech, raised $175 million

• Utility Global, a decarbonization technology company, raised $100 million

• Novig, a sports prediction market platform, raised $75 million

• Chamber, a cardiology-focused technology platform, raised $60 million

• GitGuardian, a provider of code security solutions, raised $50 million

For more PE, VC & M&A deals, subscribe to our Buysiders newsletter.

BOOK OF THE DAY

Food Fix Uncensored

Description: An investigative and eye-opening look behind the scenes of the modern food system. Hyman exposes how industry practices, marketing, and policy choices have shaped what we eat and why it matters for health, environment, and society. With a mix of data, anecdotes, and hard truths, he lays bare how profit incentives can mislead consumers and offers a roadmap for reclaiming control of nutrition, food policy, and personal health.

Book Length: 480 pages
Release Date: Feb 10, 2026

Ideal For: Health seekers, food policy thinkers, consumers tired of confusion, and anyone who wants to understand the forces shaping nutrition and public health.

“When information is distorted, so is health. Truth is the first ingredient of reform.”

DAILY VISUAL

90% of Bonds Outstanding Yield Less Than 5%

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Don’t Sweat It.

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F2 merges speed with defensibility. It’s analysis you can take into IC without sweating, while accelerating workflows by up to 75%.

And when someone asks where the number came from, you can feel confident knowing you F2'd it.

DAILY ACUMEN

Unpopular Timing

Everyone praised the same stocks in 2000. Everyone celebrated real estate in 2006. Everyone feared the market in March 2020, the best buying opportunity in a generation.

The crowd is right in the middle and catastrophically wrong at the extremes.

This isn't just about investing. The best opportunities in any field show up when everyone else is running away.

The career pivot that looks crazy during a boom looks visionary during a bust. The relationship you invest in when you're both struggling pays dividends for decades.

Courage isn't just about doing hard things. It's about doing unpopular things at unpopular times.

ENLIGHTENMENT

Short Squeez Picks

• How to read a room wherever you are

• How many days a week should you work out?

• Why venture capital is in its villain era 

• How to dress for your run

• 10 unexpected places to escape urban noise

MEME-A-PALOOZA

Memes of the Day

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