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Good Morning,

Goldman will offer interns jobs in PE within the firm, Citigroup is unapologetically poaching IB execs from rivals, EU paused their probe into X amid US trade talks, China demanded an equal stake in BlackRock's Panama ports deal, and social media went up in flames after a prominent startup's CEO was caught cheating with the HR VP at a Coldplay concert.

Besides their rapid global expansion, Bitcoin Depot is joining the wave of listed firms building Bitcoin treasuries, and they wants the key individual segment to stay involved. Check out their investor insights.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

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Markets

• US stocks rose as traders digested optimistic economic data and earnings data pointing to healthy consumers

  • S&P posted its sixth record high since June 27

  • Nasdaq posted its sixth record high in seven sessions

Earnings

• TSMC beat Q2 earnings and revenue estimates on a 61% profit surge fueled by AI chip demand; the firms expects strong FY revenue growth despite 32% US tariffs and further tariff threats (CNBC)

• Netflix issued a Q2 beat-and-raise on a 16% YoY sales increase driven by member growth, price hikes, increased ad revenue, FX tailwinds, and optimistic engagement trends (WSJ)

• PepsiCo beat Q2 earnings and revenue estimates despite softer demand, while reiterating its FY outlook and detailing a turnaround plan focused on boosting brands, embracing healthier snacks, and cutting costs (CNBC)

• What we're watching this week:  

  • Today: Truist, American Express, Charles Schwab, 3M

• Full calendar here

Prediction Markets

• You can NEVER do enough due diligence.

• Trade your predictions on a range of events, only on Kalshi. Sign up with code LIT and get a $20 bonus when you trade $100.

Headline Roundup

• Goldman is offering interns jobs in PE within the firm (BBG)

• US plans to set 93.5% tariff on battery material from China (BBG)

• US retail sales surged in June, topping estimates (BBG)

• UK unemployment hit a four-year high and inflation rose (WSJ)

• Australia unemployment hit a four-year high (RT)

• EU paused probe into Musk's X amid US trade talks (FT)

• PIMCO dismisses Trump's threats to J Pow (WSJ)

• Hedge fund shorts on small caps are at a four-year high (BBG)

• Big banks are spinning market chaos into gold (WSJ)

• Banks play long game in push to trade private credit (BBG)

• US companies are hedging euro revenues in case dollar recovers (RT)

• Public markets are 'under threat' from listings slump (FT)

• Potential J Pow successor sees need for new Treasury and Fed accord (RT)

• American firms froze China investments at record rate amid tariffs (BBG)

• Oldest Hong Kong PE firm is staying away from China investments (BBG)

• Hedge fund Man Group cut jobs and named Greg Bond as CIO (BBG)

• EQT tripled deal exits to $15B in H1 (CNBC)

• Over 50% of Fortune 100 companies are requiring employees to RTO (BBG)

• Wells Fargo suspended China travel after banker was blocked from leaving (BBG)

• Citigroup poached Goldman's Friedland as co-head of NAM IB coverage (RT)

• FTC tossed orders against Exxon, Chevron board appointments (BBG)

• Meta investors settled privacy scandal lawsuit with Zuckerberg (BBG)

• HSBC exec's fraud conviction was thrown out by US appeals court (RT)

• T. Rowe Price plans to cut jobs after years of outflows (BBG)

• Amazon plans to lay off staff in its cloud division (BBG)

• Juul received FDA clearance to sell e-cigs and cartridges (BBG)

• Senator Warren's new Wall Street target is private credit (WSJ)

• White House is preparing an executive order aimed at 'woke AI' (WSJ)

• Homebuilders are slashing prices at the highest rate in three years (CNBC)

A Message from Bitcoin Depot

Buying Bitcoin Without Buying Bitcoin

Bitcoin Depot (Nasdaq: BTM) is the infrastructure play built on Bitcoin's growth, not price. They operate the largest network of Bitcoin ATMs globally, with over 8,500 machines across the U.S., Canada, and Australia. 

Oh, and they've just had an impressive Q1 2025:

• Revenue up 19% YoY to $164.2M

• Q1 net income up to $12.2M vs. net loss of $4.2M in Q4 2024

• Adjusted profits up 92% YoY to $33.1M

Think of Bitcoin Depot as the physical on-ramp for the crypto revolution. Their revenue hasn't historically been tied to the ups and downs of Bitcoin price — far from it.

Instead, they generate revenue regardless of Bitcoin's price through Bitcoin ATM usage.

With such a good start to the year, even huge asset management firms are adding BTM to their holdings.

Don't just bet on Bitcoin's price, explore the company building the foundation for its future.

The above is for general informational purposes only and is not investment advice nor does it constitute an offer, recommendation or solicitation to buy or sell a particular financial instrument. Bitcoin Depot is not a registered investment adviser under the U.S. Investment Advisers Act of 1940. Nothing contained herein constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer by Bitcoin Depot to buy or sell any securities or other financial instruments

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Railroad giant Union Pacific is exploring an acquisition of rival Norfolk Southern in a what could be an over $60B deal

• China threatened to block BlackRock's ~$20B Panama ports deal unless it's state-owned shipping giant Cosco gets a stake 

• Brookfield agreed to acquire internet-service provider Hotwire Communications from Blackstone for $7B, including debt 

• Talen Energy agreed to acquire two US gas-fired power plants Moxie Freedom and Guernsey from Caithness and BlackRock for $3.8B

• European PE firm EQT, Canada's OMERS, and Phoenix Tower are preparing final bids for European wireless telecom infrastructure firm Cellnex's majority stake in its Swiss tower business, which could be valued at $2.3B

• CVC-backed communications and consulting firm Teneo agreed to buy PwC's business restructuring services unit in Australia and is also in talks to raise capital at a ~$2B valuation

• Food processing giant Wilmar International's asset management unit Lence agreed to acquire a 20% stake in India's AWL Agri Business from India's Adani Enterprises in a ~$1.3B deal

• BlackRock-owned Global Infrastructure Partners will acquire 50% of Italian energy giant Eni's carbon capture and storage unit at a ~$1.2B valuation

• Japan's Mitsubishi Corporation agreed to a $1B takeover of salmon farms from Norway's Grieg Seafood

• Finnish PE firm CapMan is exploring a sale of its stake in Finnish fiber JV Valokuitunen, which could fetch up to $582M

• Uber invested $300M in EV maker Lucid with plans to partner on robotaxis

• Orion Resource Partners and Virtus Minerals are bidding to acquire Congo-based cobalt miner Chemaf Resources

VC

• AI startup Perplexity closed its latest funding round at an $18B valuation

• Hadrian, an automated factory startup, raised $260M in funding led by Founders Fund and Lux Capital

• Lovable, a Swedish AI vibe coding startup, raised a $200M Series A at a $1.8B valuation led by Accel

• Newsletter and publishing platform Substack raised a $100M Series C at a $1.1B valuation led by BOND and TCG

• Boulevard, a provider of scheduling and payment software for the self-care sector, raised an $80M Series D at an $800M valuation led by JMI Equity

• Q.ANT, a photonic deep tech startup, raised a $72M Series A co-led by Cherry Ventures, UVC Partners, and imec.xpand

• Paddle, a payments and compliance platform for digital product companies, raised $25M in funding from CIBC Innovation Banking

• Blockskye, a travel infrastructure company for enterprise travel, raised $15.8M Series C from Blockchange, Litquidity Ventures, and others

• Cybersecurity startup Empirical Security raised a $12M seed round led by Costanoa Ventures

• Danish defense tech startup Quadsat raised a $5.8M Series A extension led by Join Capital and North Ventures

• BQP, a startup building a quantum accelerated simulation platform, raised a $5M seed round led by Monta Vista Capital

• Receive, a fintech startup focused on SMB financial access, raised a $4M seed round led by NGVP

IPOs / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• WeWork India began marketing a $407M India IPO

• Biel Crystal Manufactory, one of the world's largest producers of glass covers for phones, is considering reviving its Hong Kong IPO plans

• Heartflow, an AI-based medical device software developer, filed for an IPO

SPAC

• Bitcoin Standard Treasury Company plans to merge with a Cantor Fitzgerald-backed SPAC to make it the fourth-largest listed Bitcoin treasury firm

Debt 

• Morgan Stanley is reviving plans to refinance ~$4B of private credit for Vista Equity Partners-backed financial software firm Finastra

• A consortium of banks led by JPMorgan increased the total loan amount for Sycamore Partners' $4.3B acquisition of Boots to $3B, part of Sycamore's $10B LBO of pharmacy chain Walgreens Boots Alliance

• KKR-backed renewable energy firm Sol Systems raised $675M in bank debt to fund projects

• Goldman Sachs agreed to purchase $534M in Spanish mortgages from Banco Santander

• Ivory Coast raised $336M in its first Samurai bond issuance

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

• Shareholders of fintech Linqto seek to move the company's bankruptcy case from Texas to Delaware to protect their interests and challenge board actions after a new CEO replaced the founder

Fundraising / Secondaries

• BlackRock-owned Global Infrastructure Partners raised $25.2B for one of the largest infrastructure funds ever

• PE firm Oak Hill Capital plans to raise $3.8B for its seventh flagship fund

• NYC REIT SL Green Realty raised over $1B for its latest NYC-focused opportunistic credit fund

• Fidelity Investments raised $730M for its second opportunistic credit fund

• Healthcare-focused PE firm Thurston Group raised $211M for its third fund

Crypto Sum Snapshot

• Congress passed first stablecoins regulations bill

• Central banks face dilemma over rise of dollar-backed stablecoins

• US 'crypto week' drove record inflows and volume for Ether funds

• Crypto theft is booming as criminals increasingly turn to physical attacks

• Check out our Crypto Sum newsletter for the full stories on everything crypto!

Exec’s Picks

• Still spending more time cleaning data than using it? BMLL delivers clean, ready-to-use historical market data for trading and research.

  Download their free guide to learn what matters when choosing a data provider.

• Ryan Detrick shared some insightful data on why investors needn't always fear market all-time highs.

• Jain Global launched with $5.3B last year in one of the biggest hedge fund debuts ever. One year later, the firm is struggling with high costs, talent attrition, slow deployment, and culture issues as it works its way to compete with multi-strat titans like Citadel. This short FT piece explores the first year of Jain Global and what goes into running a successful hedge fund.

Finance & Startup Recruiting 💼

Litney Partners

If you're a junior banker looking for your next career move, check out our recruiting firm, Litney Partners. Established by Litquidity and Whitney Partners (the oldest purely financial services executive search and consulting firm), Litney Partners has placed strong candidates across leading firms spanning private equity, hedge funds, venture capital, growth equity, private credit, investment banking, and fintech. Head over to our website to drop your resume / create your profile and we'd love to get in touch!

We are able to move faster than most firms due to our paralleled reach, decades of industry expertise, and ability to attract top caliber candidates.

Next Play

If you're down bad, realizing finance isn't for you, and/or are curious to explore the world of startups (BizOps, chief of staff, strategic finance, etc.), fill out this form. Next Play reviews every submission and will reach out to schedule a 1:1 video call if they think they can be helpful as your own, personal startup matchmaker. They’ve grown their community to over 50k talented individuals and have strong relationships across the tech ecosystem.

Meme Cleanser

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*DISCLAIMER: Investment advice provided by Autopilot Advisers, LLC ("Autopilot"), an SEC-registered investment adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investing carries risks, including loss of principal. As always, be smart out there. Litquidity is compensated to promote AutoPilot. Compensation details available upon request.