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"Just as I can be fired, the next CEO has to be hired... and I like it that way… we can't be overly complacent… we can't take it for granted. You're always vulnerable, you're always earning it." — Jensen Huang

Good morning! Microsoft suffered a widespread outage on Thursday that knocked out Outlook, with 130,000+ users reporting issues. Jensen Huang will forfeit ~$108 million (~0.08% of his net worth) after being ousted from Nvidia.

Pfizer signed a $1.5 billion deal with Blackstone to fund weight-loss drug development, with Blackstone eligible for milestone payments. And Anthropic is set to go public on November 19, with its IPO reportedly 6x oversubscribed.

Plus: SpaceX plans more than $74 billion in data-center investments across Texas and Arizona, and why good employees stop caring about their jobs.

As data needs push our infrastructure and communities to the breaking point, BluSky AI has a computing solution that’s faster and neighborhood friendly. Check out the investor report.

SQUEEZ OF THE DAY

Three (Known) Affairs

Nvidia’s board announced Thursday that Jensen Huang has resigned as president, CEO and board member, effective immediately. Officially it’s a resignation, but a person familiar with the matter told CNBC the board decided Wednesday night to push him out, and that sentiment turned quickly after the report of a second alleged affair.

CFO Colette Kress will serve as interim CEO while keeping her CFO duties until a permanent successor is named, and the board will look at both internal and external candidates. Director Harvey Jones, 73, who has been on the board since 1993, was named chair. Before this week, Nvidia had never had a board chair.

On Nov. 8, Huang admitted to an affair believed to involve Alice Huang, a woman alleged to be a Chinese spy. A New York Times report on Wednesday then alleged a relationship with Nvidia executive Kimberly Powell. Powell is Nvidia’s VP of health care and reported directly to Huang. Even after the Alice Huang affair surfaced, Trump and the board stood behind him, Silicon Valley rallied to his defense, and betting markets suggested he would survive. The second affair, involving a direct report, is what ended it.

Then it got worse. On Thursday afternoon, hours after his exit, Reuters reported that Huang had a third affair with another unnamed Nvidia employee. Two sources told Reuters about it, and the woman could not be reached for comment.

House Foreign Affairs Chairman Brian Mast said Huang has agreed to testify before Congress before Thanksgiving. The FBI is also reportedly looking into the Alice Huang relationship.

The market is pricing the loss of a founder who was the company. Nvidia has shed ~$490 billion in market value since the scandal broke. Huang was Nvidia’s only CEO in its three-decade history, and the company has long lacked a clear succession plan. None of the other 10 directors is a current or former S&P 500 CEO, and they’ve averaged 15 years on the board.

Takeaway: Being indispensable protects a CEO right up until it doesn’t. Nvidia’s board backed Huang through a spy scandal but couldn’t defend a relationship with a direct report, because that is a governance failure, not just a personal one. The bigger issue now is that a ~$5T company has no succession plan, a CFO doubling as interim CEO, and earnings in days. RIP the leather jacket…

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AI Has A Multi-Trillion-Dollar Appetite. But Who Is Going To Feed It?

McKinsey projects data center demand will nearly triple by 2030.

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HEADLINES

Markets Rundown

Market Update

The Nasdaq and Dow each fell 0.4% as Nvidia dropped 5.5%, after a 14% decline at the open, following Jensen Huang’s departure as CEO.
WTI crude rose to $89 on reports President Trump is not looking to agree to a peace deal with Iran.
The 2-year Treasury yield rose 14 basis points and the 10-year rose 13 basis points, up nearly 30 basis points since Tuesday.

Nvidia and AI

The Nasdaq has moved more than 1% in either direction seven times in the past 10 trading days.
Concerns center on Huang’s role as the face of the AI boom, the lack of a clear succession plan, and Nvidia’s financial backing of other AI firms; analyst downgrades have begun.
Corporate fundamentals are unchanged, and diversified exposure across U.S. large- and mid-caps is favored over tech concentration.

The Fed

Goolsbee called the October inflation report “disturbing,” Hammack warned inflation is moving the wrong way, and Bowman flagged persistent price pressures.
Waller signaled an upside surprise like October could warrant a 50 basis point December hike.
A 25 basis point hike is seen as most likely, with 50 on the table at the meeting.

Movers & Shakers

(+) AMD ($AMD) +6% after investors looked for AI chip exposure outside Nvidia after Jensen Huang's resignation.
(-) Nvidia ($NVDA) -4% because Jensen Huang had resigned as CEO and a board member, effective immediately.
(–) Nebius ($NBIS) -17% after the AI cloud company pushed its $7 billion ARR target and raised 2026 capex to about $27 billion.

Prediction Markets

PPI YoY and MoM release this morning around 8:30am EDT.
Trade on real-world events with Kalshi. Use code OWS to get a $10 bonus when you trade $10.

Private Dealmaking

Fractile, a British AI chip startup, raised around $710 million
UForce, a Ukraine-founded developer of autonomous uncrewed platforms, raised $700 million
Agile Robots, a German robotics startup, raised $500 million
Torus, a provider of distributed mesh energy and modular AI infrastructure, raised $500 million
Path Robotics, a manufacturing robotics developer, raised $300 million
Q-CTRL, an Australian provider of quantum infrastructure software, raised $290 million

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

BOOK OF THE DAY

Return To Real

Description: Ryan Levesque argues that as artificial intelligence makes digital work increasingly automated, human qualities such as authenticity, creativity, relationships, and trust will become more valuable. Drawing on his entrepreneurial journey, he outlines three strategies for building businesses and lives around genuine human connection. The book explores how individuals and companies can differentiate themselves by embracing what technology cannot easily replicate.

Book Length: 282 pages
Release Date: September 29, 2026

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DAILY VISUAL

Midterms Trigger Huge Economic Mood Swing

PRESENTED BY AUGMENT

The Newest Power 20 Report is Out

Four companies left the Power 20 this quarter. Four AI companies took their places.

AI now holds 11 of the 20 spots, up from eight last quarter. Anthropic still sits at #1. OpenAI passed Anduril for #2, and one company climbed ten places in a single quarter.

Here’s the other twist. The top six names accounted for just 16.2% of Augment's platform activity, the lowest share since their rankings began. Capital is diversifying.

Which four joined? Who made the big jump? Ranked on Augment's blended metrics, and in partnership with Sacra, the Q3'26 Power 20 has the full list of 20 company profiles, honorable mentions and methodology, free to read.

Accredited investors can use Augment to explore more than 700 private companies, with available private-market pricing data, on desktop or mobile. Minimums start at $10K. There are no additional Augment-level management fees or carried interest. Underlying investment vehicles may impose fees and carried interest.*

See the full Q3'26 Power 20.

DAILY ACUMEN

Sell In May

An old Wall Street saying tells investors to sell in May and come back in November. A 2002 study tested it in 37 countries by comparing stock returns in November to April against May to October.

In 36 of the 37 countries, the November to April half did better. In the US, returns were more than 5% higher in that half, over 1970 to 1998. Risk, links between markets and the January effect didn’t explain it, and UK data showed the pattern as far back as 1694.

The catch is that in only 20 of the 37 countries was the gap big enough to be statistically reliable, meaning unlikely to be a fluke. The study also ends in 1998, so it can’t tell you whether the pattern still holds.

A pattern can show up in the data and still be too weak to trade on. Before acting on one, check how reliable it is and whether it has held up since the study.

ENLIGHTENMENT

Short Squeez Picks

Why good employees stop caring about their job
Why it’s difficult to be a good leader
Why entrepreneurs need to stop carrying everything
The World’s best 50 restaurants
How to discuss business setbacks without losing employee trust

MEME-A-PALOOZA

Memes of the Day

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What'd you think of today's edition?

Disclosures

Augment and/or its affiliates hold a position in Anthropic, OpenAI, and Anduril. Augment Markets, Inc. and its affiliates may have financial interests in one or more of the other companies mentioned, which may conflict with the information presented.

The Power 20 report was prepared in partnership with Sacra, Inc. and is for informational purposes only. Rankings are based on Augment's proprietary methodology, which incorporates various data points and subjective factors. They are not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security, and past rankings are not indicative of future results. Revenue data are third-party estimates and may be inaccurate. Share price data are estimates only, based on proprietary data from Caplight and Augment Markets, Inc. and its affiliates.

"Pre-IPO" is used generally to describe a privately held company that may be viewed as a potential candidate for a future public offering. The term does not mean that the company has filed for, scheduled, or committed to an IPO. An IPO or other liquidity event may never occur. A submitted order is not an assurance of a transaction. Orders may expire unfilled, even if the price is reached, and whether a position can be sold depends on issuer restrictions, transfer limits, required approvals, documentation, and buyer availability. Secondary liquidity is not guaranteed, and investors should be prepared to hold investments indefinitely. Selling may have tax consequences.

*Augment may invest in certain underlying vehicles that include passed-through management fees or carried interest; only a one-time transaction fee applies at investment. This material has been prepared for informational purposes only. None of the information provided represents an offer or the solicitation of an offer to buy or sell any security. The information provided does not constitute investment, legal, tax, or accounting advice. You should consult with qualified professionals before making any investment decisions. Investing in private securities involves substantial risk, including the potential loss of principal. Private securities are typically illiquid, have limited pricing transparency, and often require longer holding periods. These investments are available exclusively to qualified accredited investors and offer no guarantee of returns. Past performance of private securities does not indicate or predict future results. Augment Markets Inc. is a technology company. Brokerage services offered through Augment Capital, LLC, Member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services are offered through Augment Advisors, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser.

“Top ranked pre-IPO companies on Augment, shown in ranked order.*

“Pre-IPO” is used generally to describe a privately held company that may be viewed as a potential candidate for a future public offering. The term does not mean that the company has filed for, scheduled, or committed to an IPO.

*Ranked on Augment’s blended metrics including market activity, price trends, and company scale and growth.

🍋 Three (Known) Affairs