Good Morning! Banks are finding their latest advertising grounds - airport lounges. JPMorgan opened a lounge for cardholders in Boston’s Logan Airport and has plans to expand into LaGuardia - and Capital One is opening exclusive lounges in Denver and DC. And you can now buy stock in the MLB’s best team, the Atlanta Braves, under the sticker $BATRA. The club is valued at $2.7 billion following its spinoff from its holding company.

Apollo will launch an asset-based financing fund, and the firm is telling investors it could become the largest of its kind on Wall Street. The $1.1 billion Powerball winner hasn’t come forward yet, but she’s rumored to be an elderly lady in Los Angeles. And Juul is back with a new high-tech vape - but the company’s begging the FDA not to ban it.

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_{SQUEEZ OF THE DAY}

RIP Roll-Ups?

As if the private equity landscape hasn’t gotten rough enough with deal flow coming to a halt, it’s looking like the FTC could throw a wrench in investors’ favorite way to make money.

Private equity funds love roll-up strategies. Rather than paying a hefty sticker price for a single company, investors will buy up a bunch of smaller, cheaper ones within the same industry. Then, they’ll combine them, capturing a huge market share and instant growth.

But the FTC is onto private equity’s creative strategy. And they’re warning that it might be illegal, violating antitrust and anti-competitive laws.

They’ve already dropped the hammer on similar deals. JAB Consumer wanted to buy and merge a slew of veterinary clinics last year, but the FTC blocked it.

Takeaway: Roll up strategies are the bread and butter of private equity firms and they are not going to let the FTC take it away from them without a fight. Roll-ups are time consuming to pull off and PE investors would argue create a ton of value. And, as we learned from the challenge to the Microsoft-Activision deal, regulatory scrutiny towards M&A comes and goes in waves.

_{CAPITAL PULSE}

Markets Rundown

The S&P and Nasdaq nudged lower, but the Dow notched its longest win streak since 2017.

Movers & Shakers

• (+) Johnson & Johnson ($JNJ) +6% after the company reported an earnings beat.

• (–) Netflix ($NFLX) -8% after company says revenue acceleration will take time.

• (–) Tesla ($TSLA) -10% after slimming margins, Cybertruck concerns.

Private Dealmaking

• TPG bought healthcare platform Nextech for $1.4 billion 

• Farizon, a Chinese electric truck maker, raised $600 million 

• PVcase, a solar project design software company, raised $100 million

• Karat, a fintech tools provider for content creators, raised $70 million 

• Sylvera, a carbon data provider, raised $57 million

• Surge Therapeutics, a biotech company, raised $32 million

_{SPONSORED BY DOMAIN MONEY}

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_HEADLINES

Top Reads

• Blackstone wins private equity’s race to $1 trillion (Reuters)

• Wall Street says the worst is over for Wall Street (YF)

• Kim Kardashian may be the hero the IPO market needs (CNN)

• How corporate VC is a double-edged sword (CNBC)

• High-income New Yorkers save up to $250k by moving to Austin, TX (BB)

• Six-figure bosses are leading resistance to 5-day office week (Fortune)

• How to invest in infrastructure, according to manager of $40B fund (CNBC)

• Banking customers have woken up (Axios)

• Amazon to launch pay-by-palm technology at all Whole Foods stores (CNBC)

• How TV writing became a dead-end job (NYT)

• Amazon will ditch plastic-padded mailers (Verge)

_{BOOK OF THE DAY}

The Phoenix Economy

We are living in a strange world—Salmon calls it “the New Not Normal.” The Phoenix Economy explores the ramifications of the pandemic years, many of which are surprisingly positive.

In doing so, Salmon makes sense of one of the most disorienting and devastating events of our lifetimes. He examines the critical aspects of our lives that have been transformed in three parts: Time and Space, Mind and Body, and Business and Pleasure.

Salmon’s keen observations, on everything from meme stocks to lobster rolls, are backed by a deep understanding of financial markets and the quirks of human behavior.

His clear-eyed perspective on human and economic events, combined with his considerable analytical and observational skills, make The Phoenix Economy an insightful, fast-paced read.

This book is essential for anyone wanting a better understanding of the near- and long-term effects of this new era and what they portend for our lives. It’s a penetrating insight into what happened—and, more important, what lies ahead.

“An award-winning journalist presents a tour-de-force analysis—drawing from history, economics, sociology, and popular culture—of the profound and transformative years of the early 2020s, both for individuals and for the global economy.”

_{ENLIGHTENMENT}

Short Squeez Picks

• 7 small changes to go from quiet quitting to quiet thriving

• 11 key tips for navigating office politics

• Teens are using TikTok to self-diagnose themselves

• The trade-off for longer life is a longer career

• The secret to a good conversation

_{DAILY VISUAL}

Car Thefts Skyrocket in Cities Across the US

US motor vehicle theft rate; thefts per 100k residents

_{SPONSORED BY RYSE}

Why Have Investors Set Their Sights on Smart Shades?

Comfort and convenience are reasons why smart home titans like Ring and Nest have been acquired for $1.2B and $3.2B respectively.

But when it comes to Smart Shades, comfort and convenience are just the beginning.

There are critical applications for Smart Shades that are often overlooked:

• School Safety: In a crisis, every second counts, and RYSE recently outfitted a school with 50+ SmartShades as part of their active shooter policy.

• Disabled & Elderly Assistance: Partnering with Technology for Living, RYSE provides the disabled and the elderly with the simple ability to control their window shades.

• Energy Savings: A popular coworking space in Toronto is now saving on energy costs on a floor fully outfitted with RYSE SmartShades.

These initial deals showcase how massive the potential for Smart Shades really is, and this is just the beginning…

RYSE has patented the only mass market shade automation device and they are preparing to launch in over 100 Best Buy stores.

The opportunity to invest in RYSE closes in 3 days – learn more here.

_{DAILY ACUMEN}

Embracing The Fire

Old man Thomas Edison, all of 67, was just chilling, having dinner with his fam, when some bloke barges in, all out of breath. "Big fire at your lab," he huffed out.

The scene was chaos, fire engines from all over trying to douse the crazy green and yellow flames jumping up from the lab - a result of all the funky chemicals there.

Without missing a beat, Edison sprinted towards the madness, leaving behind a crowd of onlookers and shellshocked employees. Spots his son, looking like he'd seen a ghost. And then comes the zinger from Edison, "Fetch your mom and her pals. They ain't gonna see a show like this again."

Those Stoics were onto something with their fire metaphor. Marcus Aurelius once said, "A blazing fire makes flame and brightness out of everything that is thrown into it." And boy, did Edison live it! No tears, no fits, no pulling out his hair in despair. Just got down to business.

Next day, a reporter finds him, probably expecting a sob story. But nope, Edison's all, "Too old for a fresh start? Nah! Been there, done that. Keeps life interesting, you know."

And that, my friends, is how you turn a bummer into a bounce-back.

_{MEME-A-PALOOZA}

Memes of the Day