Good Morning! Job openings hit rock bottom at 8.7 million in October – the lowest level since March '21. Private credit is beating private equity in returns for the first time ever. Apollo’s CEO says it’s harder than ever to beat public markets. We’re officially in a weight-loss drug gold rush, and regulators sent Bitcoin on a massive rally. Plus the art of bragging in a job interview or at work, and the magic of hitting the reset button for a clean slate. 

Looking for immediate yields in industrial real estate? Consider investing in industrial real estate alongside MAG Capital Partners. 

_{SQUEEZ OF THE DAY}

MBAs Going Out of Style

Over the past couple of years, prospective students have been giving up on getting an MBA. And it turns out that the gatekeepers who work at these top schools (think Stanford, Harvard, Columbia) are giving up, too. 

Bloomberg says that at least eight admission directors at top MBA programs have flat-out quit over the past few years.

You can blame Covid for turning MBA admissions upside down. Testing centers shut down, admissions counselors couldn’t travel, and while enthusiasm for MBA degrees was up in the early months, it took a sharp nosedive in 2022.

But admissions counselors say that the deans that run the schools were demanding. MBA rankings like Bloomberg and U.S. News put a ton of pressure on these admission counselors to build elite classes. But with demand falling, it became harder than ever to lock in the top candidates. And, thanks to Covid restrictions, demand from international students is still pretty low. 

Takeaway: Admissions directors at top business schools are finding out that there’s no secret formula to throw their MBA programs a lifeline. It’s easy to throw around scholarships left and right - but changing public perception is harder. The age-old debate about whether or not to get an MBA has always come down to one question - is it worth it? 

MBA price tags can approach $1 million thanks to tuition/opportunity cost. So if MBA programs want to make a post-Covid rebound - they need to convince people like the top Wall Street junior talent that their programs are indeed worth it. 

_{PRESENTED BY MAG CAPITAL PARTNERS}

Diversify Your Portfolio with Industrial Real Estate

Put low-yielding capital to work in industrial real estate that offers immediate cash flow, 20-year NNN leases and excellent inflation protections.

The American Industrial Real Estate Sector is the backbone of the US Economy:

• E-Commerce and Supply Chain Demand: Onshoring and logistic shifts increase the demand for US industrial properties.

• Scarce Locations: High demand meets short supply, slowing new construction and negative absorption all support ongoing investment opportunities.

• Consistent and Reliable Income: Steady cash flow that is securitized by long-term leases with strong American manufacturing companies. 

Click here to learn more and to connect with principals at MAG Capital Partners.

_HEADLINES

Top Reads

• Job openings slid to 8.7 million in October, lowest level since March 2021 (CNBC)

• Private credit is giving investors better returns than private equity (YF)

• Private equity’s double dips are a tasty faux pas (Reuters)

• Wells Fargo CEO warns of severance costs of nearly $1 billion as layoffs loom (CNBC)

• The weight-loss drug gold rush is getting larger (Axios)

• Tech firms, Wall Street lead job cuts in corporate America (Reuters)

• How regulators tamed crypto and helped drive a Bitcoin rally (Axios)

• Robots make good junior analysts (BB)

• Fed’s loaded gun could aid economy (YF)

• Apollo’s CEO says it’s getting harder to beat public markets (BB)

• Signs of a weakening job market in 5 charts (WSJ)

_{CAPITAL PULSE}

Markets Rundown

Stocks closed mixed after the latest jobs data.

Movers & Shakers

• (+) GitLab ($GTLB) +11% after the software company posted Q3 earnings.

• (+) Robinhood ($HOOD) +10% because crypto volumes on the trading platform soared.

• (–) GameStop ($GME) -12% ahead of the company reporting earnings.

Private Dealmaking

• Mistral AI, a generative AI startup, raised $487 million

• Together, a cloud platform for generative AI training, raised $102.5 million

• Odyssey Therapeutics, a drug developer, raised $101 million 

• Fortellix, a self-driving solutions startup, raised $85 million

• Nth Cycle, a recycling tech startup, raised $44 million

• Stensul, a marketing creation platform, raised $34.5 million

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

_{BOOK OF THE DAY}

The Sisterhood

Created in the aftermath of World War II, the Central Intelligence Agency relied on women even as it attempted to channel their talents and keep them down. Women sent cables, made dead drops, and maintained the agency’s secrets. Despite discrimination—even because of it—women who started as clerks, secretaries, or unpaid spouses rose to become some of the CIA’s shrewdest operatives.

They were unlikely spies—and that’s exactly what made them perfect for the role. Because women were seen as unimportant, pioneering female intelligence officers moved unnoticed around Bonn, Geneva, and Moscow, stealing secrets from under the noses of their KGB adversaries.

Back at headquarters, women built the CIA’s critical archives—first by hand, then by computer. And they noticed things that the men at the top didn’t see. As the CIA faced an identity crisis after the Cold War, it was a close-knit network of female analysts who spotted the rising threat of al-Qaeda—though their warnings were repeatedly brushed aside. 

After the 9/11 attacks, more women joined the agency as a new job, targeter, came to prominence. They showed that data analysis would be crucial to the post-9/11 national security landscape—an effort that culminated spectacularly in the CIA’s successful effort to track down bin Laden in his Pakistani compound. 

Propelled by the same meticulous reporting and vivid storytelling that infused Code Girls, The Sisterhood offers a riveting new perspective on history, revealing how women at the CIA ushered in the modern intelligence age, and how their silencing made the world more dangerous.

“A rip-roaring read that rewrites and enlarges the history of America’s iconic intelligence service.”

_{DAILY VISUAL}

Crypto Back From the Dead

Bitcoin price $ USD

_{SPONSORED BY RAINBOOK}

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With Rainbook, you can have clear insight into how well your advisor stacks up in six critical areas.

_{DAILY ACUMEN}

Charlie Munger

Learnings from Charlie Munger:

"I think a life properly lived is just learn, learn, learn all the time."

"You should never, when faced with one unbelievable tragedy, let one tragedy increase into two or three because of a failure of will."

"It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent."

"I see people rise in life who are not the smartest, sometimes not even the most diligent, but they are learning machines. They go to bed every night a little wiser than they were when they got up and boy does that help."

"I didn't get to where I am by going after mediocre opportunities."

"I want to think about things where I have an advantage over others. I don't want to play a game where people have an advantage over me. I don't play in a game where other people are wise and I am stupid. I look for a game where I am wise, and they are stupid. And believe me, it works better. God bless our stupid competitors. They make us rich."

"I am not smart enough to make decisions with no time to think. I make actual decisions very rapidly, but that's because I have spent so much time preparing ourselves by quietly reading."

_{ENLIGHTENMENT}

Short Squeez Picks

• The power of starting clean with a full reset

• The most productive habits to pick up in 2024

• On wanting what someone else has 

• The best way to brag in a job interview or at work

• 10 frugal habits that rarely pay off

_{MEME-A-PALOOZA}

Memes of the Day