Good Morning! Amazon hit an all-time high after striking a $38 billion deal with OpenAI to run hundreds of thousands of Nvidia chips on AWS. Kleenex maker, Kimberly-Clark is acquiring Tylenol-maker Kenvue in a $48.7 billion mega deal. And hedge fund Millennium sold a 15% stake at a $14 billion valuation.

Beyond Meat plunged 16% after delaying results due to an impairment charge. Palantir topped estimates and raised Q4 guidance on strong AI demand. And Denny’s, famous as the diner where Jensen Huang first came up with the idea for Nvidia, is going private in a $322 million deal.

Plus: Why the best investment bankers are worth paying for, and the biggest money fears of the ultra-rich.

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SQUEEZ OF THE DAY

Palantir’s College Dropout Experiment

Palantir is running an expensive experiment to test whether college is a waste. The $491 billion data analytics giant launched a fellowship that lets top high school grads go pro and start working at Palantir at 18.

Palantir hired 22 high school grads for a four-month crash course that began with seminars on Western civilization and ends with real-world client work. 

The inaugural fellowship wraps up later this month. Demand was strong, with 500 applicants for just a fraction of spots (4.4% acceptance rate). One week, they’re studying Frederick Douglass or taking an Improv class; the next, they’re building software for defense contractors.

CEO Alex Karp says modern universities no longer train critical thinkers, only “people engaged in platitudes.” His answer is to recruit raw talent, teach them history, ethics, and purpose, then drop them straight into Palantir’s front lines.

The goal isn’t to replace internships; it’s to replace the college pipeline entirely. The top-performing fellows will be offered full-time positions at Palantir. So, for some fellows, the experience buys time to decide whether they’d like to work full-time, or just take a gap year and go back to school.

The irony is that Karp himself holds degrees from Haverford, Stanford Law, and a Ph.D. from Goethe University. Yet he argues the institutions that shaped him no longer produce people like him, so Palantir is building its own. The risk, of course, is that skipping college might fast-track a job but slow down a career. Even with Palantir on a resume, long-term mobility without a degree remains uncertain.

The bet comes as Palantir rides a massive comeback. Its market cap has soared to $491 billion, up over 400% in the past year, as it cements itself as the operating system for defense, AI, and government analytics. Now it’s applying the same logic to talent that made its software so sticky: question institutions, build in-house, and trust conviction over consensus.

Takeaway: It’s rare for a public company to hire employees straight out of high school. Palantir isn’t just rewriting the rules of tech or AI; it’s taking aim at the American merit system itself. As Karp put it, “The Palantir degree is definitely more important than any kind of Ivy League degree.” And if he’s right, the future of elite work may not start on Ivy League campuses, but rather at Palantir’s HQ.

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HEADLINES

Top Reads

• Amazon stock jumps on $38 billion deal with OpenAI to deploy hundreds of thousands of Nvidia chips (YF)

• Kimberly-Clark to buy Tylenol owner Kenvue in $48.7 billion deal (CNBC)

• Millennium sells $2 billion minority stake in hedge fund firm (BB)

• Beyond Meat sinks 16% after delaying financial results (CNBC)

• Palantir tops estimates, boosts fourth-quarter guidance on AI adoption (CNBC)

• Is OpenAI becoming too big to fail? (WSJ)

• Yes, the best investment bankers are worth paying for (BB)

• Ares posts 167% jump in earnings on booming secondaries business (BB)

• Big Tech is spending more than ever on AI and it’s still not enough (WSJ)

• Big Tech’s rising AI investments show market bubble still has room to run (YF)

• Gold steadies as stronger dollar trims rate-cut bets (CNBC)

• Starbucks to sell up to 60% of China biz for $4B (YF)

• Denny’s to go private in $322 million deal (WSJ)

• Philippines seeks fix for the world’s worst-performing stock market (BB)

• Landlords’ billion-dollar upgrades along Sixth Avenue finally pay off (NYP)

• Why companies are no longer hanging onto employees (WSJ)

• Why the future of coffee doesn’t belong to Starbucks (WSJ)

CAPITAL PULSE

Markets Rundown

Market Update

• Tech stocks rallied, driven by AI headlines, but the broader market lagged.

• Amazon (AMZN) jumped ~4.5% after announcing a $38 billion deal with OpenAI for advanced chips.

• The Nasdaq surged, while the S&P 500 edged higher, and both the Dow Jones and the Russell 2000 slipped.

• 10-year Treasury yields rose to ~4.10%, continuing the sell-off that followed last week’s Fed meeting.

• Gold prices ticked back above $4,000 per ounce; oil prices were broadly unchanged.

Economic Data Highlights

• The federal government shutdown dragged on into November, set to tie the longest on record (35 days).

• SNAP food-aid benefits are being partially funded, but uncertainty remains for ~40 million recipients.

• ACA health-insurance open enrollment has started amid large premium hikes, raising concerns for consumers.

• With agencies still shuttered, the Fed is flying blind, lacking core data as inflation remains elevated and some members call for caution on further rate cuts.

Earnings Today

• AMD (AMD) – Focus on supply-chain commentary, margin outlook, and AI-chip demand.

• Super Micro Computer (SMCI) – Watch for growth in AI server deployments and spatial-compute infrastructure trends.

• Uber (UBER) – Key metrics: mobility recovery, delivery-segment profitability, and AI integration into routing.

Movers & Shakers

• (+) Amazon ($AMZN) +4% after signing a $38B compute deal with OpenAI.

• (–) Kimberly-Clark ($KMD) -15% because of the $49B deal for Tylenol.

• (–) Beyond Meat ($BYND) -16% after the company delays financial results due to an impairment charge.

Prediction Markets

• It’s Election Day for NYC. Is it locked up for Zohran?

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

Private Dealmaking

• Kimberly-Clark bought Tylenol owner Kenvue for $48.7 billion 

• SM Energy agreed to merge with Civitas Resources in an all-stock deal worth $12.8 billion

• Eaton agreed to acquire the thermal business of Boyd Corp. for $9.5 billion

• Izzy Englander sold a 15% stake in Millennium Management for $2 billion

• Ignyte Insurance sold its collector vehicle unit to Philadelphia Insurance for $615 million

• Legora, a collaborative AI platform for lawyers, raised $150 million

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

BOOK OF THE DAY

Wasted Talent

Description: This is a bold, urgent call to rebuild our workplaces from the ground up. Sam Caucci argues that the “future of work” promise—innovation, flexibility, meaningful careers—has largely failed the front line. Instead, talent is overlooked, labor is exploited, and potential is wasted. The book blends real-world stories, data, and a blueprint for change, challenging executives and leaders to create environments where workers thrive and businesses succeed.

Book Length: 392 pages
Release Date: November 4, 2025

Ideal For: Leaders, HR professionals, business strategists, owners of frontline-facing organizations, and anyone committed to transforming work culture into one of opportunity rather than attrition.

“When talent is wasted and potential stifled, everyone loses—workers, companies, and society.”

DAILY VISUAL

Buffett’s Cash Pile > Coca-Cola

PRESENTED BY BILL

State of B2B Payments Report 2025

If you're leading finance at a growing business, you're juggling a lot: fraud prevention, cash flow, operational efficiency, and trying to scale.

But, you're not alone. BILL recently surveyed more than 700 finance leaders and here's what stood out:

• 1 in 4 lost money to payments fraud last year

• 1 in 3 are bracing for cash flow challenges in the year ahead

• And 88% say digital payments platforms are essential to their ability to grow

One thing was clear: finance leaders are moving away from paper-heavy processes toward smarter, more secure systems. Digital payments are no longer a nice-to-have, but a critical tool for businesses. 

BILL pulled all the findings into a brand new State of B2B Payments report. If you're rethinking your payments stack or just want to see where your peers are headed, it's worth a look.

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DAILY ACUMEN

Over-optimization

High performers ruin themselves by trying to perfect everything.

They optimize their routines, their diets, their workflows — until they turn life into a spreadsheet.

But perfection is sterile. The best ideas come from slack, not structure.

Some inefficiency is essential to discovery.

The investor who over-diversifies dilutes returns; the person who over-optimizes dilutes joy.

You can’t A/B test your way to meaning.

Leave room for mystery. Let your life breathe a little.

ENLIGHTENMENT

Short Squeez Picks

• How to build resilience at work

• The biggest money fears of the ultra-rich

• 5 personal finance books that make building wealth seem fun

• Why you should embrace slow running

• 8 phrases emotionally intelligent people use to de-escalate tense situations

MEME-A-PALOOZA

Memes of the Day

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