Good Morning and Happy Friday! Sam Altman isn’t thrilled about Meta dangling $100M+ comp packages to poach his top engineers, noting: “OpenAI may eventually be the more valuable company.”

Trump wants the Fed to deliver the equivalent of 10 rate cuts. Wall Street’s deal drought might finally get a lifeline from AI, and private equity funds are trailing U.S. stocks over both the short and long term.

Plus: Soon you’ll be able to trade and make investments on X, private equity + matcha = a $500 million brand, and Berkshire’s premium may already be fading without Buffett.

🚨 We’re running our mid-summer Wall Street comp survey. If you're a full-time professional, fill out this form. If you're an intern, fill out this one. We’ll be sending out free merch to a few lucky participants.

Need compliance ASAP? Vanta automates 35+ frameworks like SOC 2, ISO 27001, and HIPAA.

SQUEEZ OF THE DAY

Trump-Linked IB Turns $5M Into $127M Overnight

A tiny investment bank based in Trump Tower, Dominari Holdings, where Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump serve as advisers, just pulled off one of the most eye-popping trades of the year.

The firm helped transform SRM Entertainment, a bankrupt toy company that sells Smurf tumblers and plush sea turtles, into a crypto “platform” with ties to controversial crypto mogul Justin Sun.

In May, Dominari helped arrange a $5 million investment in SRM Entertainment by a fund called American Ventures, managed by one of its own executives, Soo Yu. Yu is married to Dominari’s president, Kyle Wool, and has earned more than $10 million in compensation from the firm over the past two years.

The fund received a large chunk of preferred shares, along with warrants to buy even more stock. Less than a month later, Dominari advised SRM on a pivot into a crypto-adjacent company called Tron Inc., bringing on crypto mogul Justin Sun as an adviser.

Once that transformation was announced, SRM’s stock exploded, jumping from under $2 to over $9 in just 48 hours. The rally turned Yu’s $5 million investment into $127 million on paper, a 25x return from what was, until recently, a bankrupt toymaker selling Smurf tumblers and plush sea turtles.

On top of that, Dominari and Yu got paid in warrants as part of their “advisory fee,” which also surged in value, from about $230,000 to $3.8 million. It all sounds like a penny stock pump wrapped in a crypto pivot..

Still, there’s no evidence the Trump brothers personally touched this deal. However, since their names were added to Dominari’s advisory board earlier this year, the firm’s stock and stature have skyrocketed.

And now Dominari’s executives are helping to launch a separate venture called American Bitcoin, which is 20% owned by the Trump family.

Takeaway: Dominari started as a cancer drug company. Now it’s an investment bank in Trump Tower, launching crypto ventures where insiders advise themselves and walk away with 25x gains. Some might call it a Ponzi, others just call it another day in crypto’s Wild West.

HEADLINES

Top Reads

• Sam Altman says Meta is offering $100 million to poach his employees (CNN)

• Trump calls for the equivalent of 10 Fed rate cuts (CNN)

• Private market funds lag US stocks over short and long term (FT)

• AI to the rescue as Wall Street deals dry up (YF)

• Private equity’s IPO window expected to open wide in second half (WSJ)

• Musk’s X plans payments, investment features rollout for 2025 (CT)

• Dealmakers fear US Steel ‘golden share’ heralds new normal under Trump (FT)

• Trump signs executive order extending deadline for TikTok (YF)

• Berkshire shares drop double digits as ‘Buffett premium’ disappears (CNBC)

• Fund managers are pouring money into emerging markets (CNBC)

• A $20B clock is ticking for OpenAI as Microsoft talks turn fractious (YF)

• SpaceX’s Starship explodes during routine test in Texas (CNBC)

• America’s economy could face a war shock (YF)

• How retail credit cards could bankrupt consumers with record high interest rates (CNBC)

• Private equity + matcha = a brand worth half a billion dollars (WSJ)

PRESENTED BY VANTA

Security Compliance SOCs 90% Less Now

Security frameworks like SOC 2 and HIPAA are non-negotiable, but that doesn’t mean they have to be a total time SOC, I mean, suck. 

Vanta’s all-in-one trust management platform is the easy, affordable way to automate compliance for 35+ security frameworks. 

Why thousands of startups and enterprises stay audit-ready with Vanta: 

• Saves you hours: Automates all that tedious, manual labor 

• Productivity boost: Compliance teams see a 129% efficiency lift—no burnout

• High ROI: Pays for itself in 3 months (cha-ching!)

• Accelerate Growth: To sell to the enterprise, you need to prove compliance

• Build Customer Trust: Establish a strong security foundation and show you take security seriously

Build trust. Squash risk. Make it to Friday Happy Hour. Simple, right? 

Grab a time with a Vanta team member, and claim a special offer of $1,000 off.

CAPITAL PULSE

Markets Rundown

Markets were closed in observance of the Juneteenth holiday.

Private Dealmaking

• Draig Therapetucis, a neuropsychiatric biotech, raised $144 million

• Animaj, an entertainment startup, raised $85 million

• Eigen Labs, an Ethereum restaking platform, raised $70 million

• Actio Biosciences, a neurological disorder biotech, raised $66 million

• AIM, an autonomous machinery startup, raised $50 million

• Ellipsis Health, a patient engagement tools provider, raised $45 million

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

BOOK OF THE DAY

How To Be Dateable

Description: A warm, research‑backed guide from the hosts of the Dateable podcast, showing you how to break free from modern dating traps—“love on demand,” the validation loop, the settling paradox—and coach yourself through clarity, confidence, and genuine connections. Start with your personalized dating archetype quiz to match strategies to your style.

Rating:
• Amazon: 4.9 / 5 (based on reader reviews)
• Goodreads: 4.14 / 5 (84 ratings across editions)

Book Length: ~336 pages (hardcover)
Audible Length: Estimated around 8–10 hrs based on length

Ideal For: Anyone feeling stuck in the dating world—especially podcast fans, modern daters seeking strategic tools, and anyone ready to reconnect with their personal values and win in love with intention.

“An empowering read to help you find your person.” — Logan Ury, author of How to Not Die Alone

DAILY VISUAL

Want more? Visualize the markets with Carbon Finance

PRESENTED BY HEBBIA

So Easy Michael Scott Could Do It

Finance professionals need tools that work as hard as they do. Hebbia’s Matrix delivers powerful solutions to streamline your workflow and give you a competitive edge. Here’s how top firms use Hebbia:

• Summarize 200+ earnings calls annually without breaking a sweat.

• Review offering memorandums 5x faster to keep pace with changing markets.

• Identify red flags, compare risks, and extract critical terms in minutes.

• Turn diligence notes into IC-ready investment memos.

Whether you’re tracking opportunities, managing risk, or drafting IC memos, Hebbia helps finance, real estate, and legal teams get more done in less time, without sacrificing quality.

DAILY ACUMEN

One Goal, Many Wins

The most powerful goals don’t just check one box—they create ripple effects.

Whether it’s getting fit, learning a language, or building a business, the secret to sticking with a goal is understanding how it pays off on multiple levels.

Exercise isn’t just about health—it boosts leadership, brainpower, and mood.

Learning Spanish isn’t just for travel—it sharpens your memory and empathy.

Growing your business?

That’s not just revenue—it’s stability for your team, care for your customers, and freedom for your family.

Great goals don’t just move you forward—they lift everyone around you.

Aim for those.

ENLIGHTENMENT

Short Squeez Picks

• Upgrade your morning investing insights

• How we learned to bury our feelings

• Busy isn’t the same as productive

• 7 ways aspiring millionaires go wrong

• 6 necessary skills every leader should have

• 4 secrets to increase your self-esteem

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.

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

🔒 Short Squeez Premium – Insiders: Access exclusive content, including investment analysis, wellness features, career tools, and our full recruiting resource library. Upgrade to Premium. 

🧢 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.

🏠 Real Estate Newsletter – City Squeez: Latest news and exclusive listings for those looking to buy, rent, or invest in real estate around the world. Sign up here.

📚 Courses: Level up with our excel, modeling, and private equity courses. View offerings.