Good Morning! Apollo raised $6.5 billion for the third iteration of its hybrid debt-equity fund. OpenAI finalized a $10 billion joint venture with PE firms to deploy AI. And Anthropic unveiled AI agents built for financial services tasks such as drafting decks and reviewing financial statements.

Wall Street is increasingly handing corporate bond trades to bots, with around 35% of block trades worth $5 million or more now handled electronically. Morgan Stanley's Budapest investment banking program was hit by a FINRA probe over unlicensed junior bankers in Hungary working on US and European deals. And KKR logged a faster pace of deal exits as earnings topped estimates.

Plus: The SEC unveiled a proposal to allow semiannual reporting, James Murdoch is in talks to buy Vox's New York magazine and podcast division, and how to improve your VO2 max without running for hours.

Create your unfair edge against the late-night grind. Try FRE today.

SQUEEZ OF THE DAY

Ken Doubles Down on Miami

Ken Griffin was already moving Citadel’s center of gravity to Miami. But now, he says he’s making the office taller.

Speaking yesterday at the Milken Institute conference, Griffin said Citadel has revised plans for its Miami headquarters to make the tower larger, and he tied the decision directly to New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s recent video promoting a pied-à-terre tax. In the video, Mamdani name-checked Griffin and his $238 million Manhattan penthouse. Griffin said he has watched the clip three times and called it “creepy and weird,” which is not exactly the love language of a billionaire currently weighing how much office space to keep in New York.

The key quote was not just that Griffin disliked the video. It was that the episode reminded him of “the trauma I went through in Chicago,” where he previously moved Citadel’s headquarters out after repeatedly criticizing the city’s leadership. So Griffin has seen this movie before, and he does not plan to stay for the sequel. When one of the most powerful people in global finance says a city’s politics are starting to feel like the last city he left, commercial real estate people tend to stop scrolling.

That is what makes the Miami comment matter. Griffin did not just complain about New York politics. He said Citadel’s internal debate over Miami versus New York has effectively been settled. “It’s unquestionably true that we made the right choice,” he said. The firm’s Miami tower was already going to be a statement. Now it sounds like the statement is getting more floors.

The unresolved piece is 350 Park Avenue, Citadel’s planned $6 billion Manhattan tower. Griffin did not say he is walking away, but he also did not give New York a full vote of confidence. “What we do at 350 is still a point of discussion internally,” he said. Citadel still has roughly 2,500 employees in New York. But the direction of travel is hard to miss: Miami just got bigger, and Manhattan just got more complicated.

Takeaway: Mamdani tried to make Ken Griffin the poster child for taxing ultra-wealthy pied-à-terre owners. Griffin responded by telling the Milken crowd that the video was “creepy and weird,” that it validated Citadel’s Miami move, and that the firm has revised its Miami tower plans upward. Maybe 350 Park still happens. Maybe this is partly negotiation theater. But the optics are brutal for New York.

PRESENTED BY FRE

For When That Late Night Wall Hits

Bloomberg reported last year that nicotine pouches have quietly become the performance-enhancing tool of choice in finance, described by one source as “ubiquitous with juniors in the industry.”

Researchers have studied nicotine’s effects on attention and reaction time for decades, and the office-worker set has caught on.

For analysts and bankers running on four hours of sleep and a 40-slide deck still left to build, FRE offers a tobacco-free pouch in five strengths up to 15mg.

Give FRE a try today.

HEADLINES

Top Reads

• Apollo raises $6.5 billion for hybrid debt-equity strategy (BB)

• OpenAI finalizes $10 billion joint venture with PE firms to deploy AI (BB)

• Anthropic unveils AI agents to field financial services tasks (BB)

• Wall Street is trusting bots with biggest corporate bond trades (BB)

• Morgan Stanley's investment banking program in Budapest hit by U.S. probe (WSJ)

• SEC unveils proposal to allow for semiannual reporting (BB)

• James Murdoch in talks to buy Vox's New York magazine and podcast division (WSJ)

• KKR logs faster pace of deal exits as earnings top estimates (BB)

• EQT raises takeover bid for Intertek again (WSJ)

• Thoma Bravo is combing every BDC book for software loan bargains (BB)

• Andreessen Horowitz raises new $2.2 billion crypto fund (BB)

• Anthropic unveils AI agents to field financial services tasks (BB)

• Jamie Dimon blesses the trillion-dollar AI capex boom (Axios)

• OpenAI to spend $50 billion on computing in 2026, Brockman says (BB)

• JPMorgan's top dealmaker says April was challenging for M&A (BB)

• HSBC shares drop as first-quarter pre-tax profit misses estimates on higher expected credit losses (CNBC)

• AI computing is a memory hog. An Nvidia-backed startup has an answer. (WSJ)

• Why private equity is making deals with the AI giants (Axios)

CAPITAL PULSE

Markets Rundown

Market Update

• Stocks moved higher as Middle East tensions cooled and oil prices eased

• Gains were broad-based, with all 11 S&P 500 sectors finishing higher

• Technology and materials led, signaling a stronger risk-on tone

• Bond yields edged lower, offering some relief after Monday’s selloff

• Markets are still sensitive to Iran headlines, but today’s tone was more constructive

Earnings and Growth Still Leading

• Earnings season remains a major support for markets

• Results have been much stronger than expected, with S&P 500 earnings growth now tracking well above initial forecasts

• Strength is being driven by AI-related investment, especially across technology and communication services

• Economic data still points to steady growth rather than slowdown

• Labor demand appears stable, with job openings little changed and services activity still expanding

Geopolitics Still Matter

• Monday’s military action raised concerns that the ceasefire could break down

• Today’s rebound suggests markets are reassured by the lack of further escalation

• Oil moving lower helped ease inflation and policy concerns

• Both sides appear to still prefer a diplomatic path, at least for now

• The conflict remains a risk, but not enough to overwhelm strong earnings and growth trends today

Movers & Shakers

• (+) Intel ($INTC) +13% after Bloomberg reported Apple held early-stage talks with Intel about manufacturing its main processors in the U.S.

• (+) Pinterest ($PINS) +7% because the social media company beat Q1 estimates on revenue and issued an upbeat outlook.

• (–) Palantir ($PLTR) -7% after a downgrade by Jefferies, thanks to slowing growth.

Prediction Markets

• Watch Wednesday: Rolex GMT-Master II with red and black Bezel

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

Private Dealmaking

• Bullish agreed to acquire Equiniti, a transfer agent, for $4.25 billion

• Sierra, a provider of custom AI agents for enterprise customer service, raised $950 million

• IREN agreed to acquire Mirantis, a provider of cloud infrastructure services, for $625 million

• Windward Bio, a Swiss immune biotech, raised $165 million

• Panthalassa, a developer of tidal-powered data centers, raised $140 million

• Reserv, a property and casualty insuretech, raised $125 million

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

BOOK OF THE DAY

Steve Jobs in Exile

Description:
A revealing look at Steve Jobs during his years away from Apple Inc., written by Geoffrey Cain. The book dives into the creation of NeXT and how this period of failure, experimentation, and reinvention ultimately reshaped Jobs into the leader who would later transform Apple. It highlights how setbacks, when approached with vision and persistence, can become the foundation for future breakthroughs.

Book Length: 304 pages
Release Date: May 19, 2026

Ideal For:
Founders, operators, and anyone interested in how failure, reinvention, and long-term thinking can lead to transformative success.

The moments that look like failure are often the ones that quietly build the foundation for everything that follows.

DAILY VISUAL

What the Zuck

PRESENTED BY STELRIX

How Does Elon Musk Save Billions on Capital Gains Tax?

Instead of selling his stock and triggering taxable gains, he uses his shares as collateral to secure loans, giving him access to large amounts of cash without selling. 

This approach has been used in major moves like financing the Twitter acquisition, where he leveraged Tesla stock for a margin loan rather than cashing out. 

It is a strategy many billionaires use: borrowing against appreciating assets to fund spending while deferring or avoiding capital gains taxes.

Now, non-billionaires have access to this strategy through Stelrix, the gold credit card backed by your portfolio. 

Request access to the waitlist today.

DAILY ACUMEN

Liquidity Premium

There is a reason private markets pay more than public ones, and the reason is that you cannot get out. The same logic applies to almost every meaningful decision in your life, and almost nobody applies it. You are paid a premium, in returns and in growth, for committing to things you cannot easily exit. Relationships. Reputations. Long-dated bets on people, geographies, careers.

Most people are trying to live their lives in the public markets. Maximum optionality, instant liquidity, ability to pivot at any moment. And they wonder why everything in their life feels like it is trading at fair value with no upside left.

The illiquid version of you is the one that compounds. The liquid version is the one that stays comfortable and never quite breaks out.

ENLIGHTENMENT

Short Squeez Picks

• How daily sharpness dictates productivity

• Why high achievers can feel lost after success

• How highly successful people talk to others at work

• Just 2 minutes a day of this type of exercise can help you live longer

• How to improve your VO2 max without running for hours

MEME-A-PALOOZA

Memes of the Day

📣 Partner With Us: Get in front of an audience of over 1 million finance professionals, business leaders, and policy influencers. Submit a partnership inquiry.

📊 Wall Street Comp & Culture Data: Get the most detailed comp, carry, and culture insights across 800+ Wall Street firms. Explore the data.

📈 Grow With Us: Work directly with the Overheard on Wall Street team to scale your finance brand. Schedule your free consult.

🧢 Wall Street Shop: Explore our collection of finance-themed apparel and merchandise. Visit the shop.

📬 Deals Newsletter – Buysiders: A curated roundup of major M&A, private equity, and VC activity. Plus access to private deal flow. Subscribe here.