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Good morning,

Markets closed at ATHs 100% of days in 2022 so far, Apple is worth $3 trillion, Elizabeth Holmes was found guilty (but in 2021 Theranos would have been a great SPAC merger), Prince Andrew got caught in Epstein's web, Starbucks told employees get vaccinated or get out, another Pfizer booster got approved, and Tesla stock is once again a rocket ship.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

To see the LitCap Yolo Fund's portfolio holdings, download the Iris Social Stock app here and give Litquidity a follow. If you want to learn more about crypto trading strategies and the world of DeFi, check out our Foot Guns newsletter.

Markets

• Major indexes opened 2022 by booking gains, with the Dow Jones closing at a record

• Markets were pulled up by Apple, who became the first US company to reach a $3T market cap, and Tesla, whose shares rose by 13%+ yesterday after vehicle deliveries came in higher than expected for Q4’21 and FY’21

• Bank stocks also rose after bond yields climbed up, with the 10 yr closing above 1.6%, and reopening stocks shrugged off omicron and also were mostly in the green

Earnings

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Elizabeth Holmes found guilty on four of 11 charges in Theranos fraud trial (NPR)

• Apple becomes first US company to reach $3T market cap (CNBC)

• US sets global daily record of over 1 million virus cases (BBG)

• Jeffrey Epstein paid Prince Andrew accuser $500K in 2009 (BBG)

• Jurors in Holmes case unable to reach unanimous decision on three of 11 counts (NYT)

• Starbucks to require vaccination or regular testing for employees (WSJ)

• Germany heads toward new pandemic measures as omicron threatens (BBG)

• Samsung 2022 TVs to include NFT platform (TBC)

• LinksDAO NFT sale books first $10M toward buying an actual golf course (CD)

• Turkish inflation climbs to highest since 2002 amid Lira woes (BBG)

• US catches Kremlin insider who may have secrets of 2016 hack (BBG)

• Jan. 6 panel has ‘first hand testimony’ that Ivanka asked Trump to intervene during riot, Cheney says (CNBC)

• Planet Fitness CEO says gym visits are holding up against the omicron variant (CNBC)

• FDA authorizes Pfizer-BioNTech booster for 12- to 15-year-olds (WSJ)

• AT&T, Verizon agree to delay 5G after airlines threatened to sue (BBG)

A Message From Amberjack

Modernizing Men’s Shoes.

Obviously good style. Secretly great comfort.

Amberjack is a modern footwear brand started by former executives from Adidas, Cole Haan, & McKinsey. It’s the world’s most advanced dress shoe, made with proprietary athletic materials that deliver incredible comfort and A-grade leather vertically sourced from one of the world’s leading tanneries.

They’ve been featured in Forbes, Business Insider, and Yahoo, and were just ranked the #1 best overall dress shoes in 2021 by Rolling Stone. Only downside is they constantly sell out – get yours today before they’re gone (or pre-order to ensure availability).

Deal Flow

M&A

• French infrastructure company Antin plans to put Spanish fiber optic network Lyntia up for sale, which could fetch up to $4.53B (RT)

• Abu Dhabi Holding agreed to buy an additional 17% stake in UAE property firm Aldar for $1.5B (BBG)

• Game maker and marketing software provider AppLovin has completed its $1.05B acquisition of Twitter’s mobile ad platform MoPub (TC)

• Fanatics is in talks to acquire the trading card division of Topps for ~$500M (BBG)

• Portuguese insurer GamaLife agreed to buy Zurich Insurance’s Italian life and pensions in a plan by the Swiss company to improve capital allocations (BBG)

• Steelmaker Stelco agreed to buy minority stakes in the Canadian Football League’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Forge FC, as well as the master lease for Tim Hortons' Field (BBG)

• Global professional services firm Huron agreed to buy healthcare analytics and data company Perception Health (BW)

VC

• Immuno-oncology company Amberstone Biosciences raised a $12M Series A led by Viva BioInnovator, Co-win Ventures, and Sinovation Ventures (BW)

• Smarter Health, a Singaporean-based startup that allows smoother exchange of data between different parties in the healthcare system, raised a ~$3.8M Series A led by East Ventures (TC)

• Abstra, which has developed a no-code tool for designers and programmers to build professional apps, has raised $2.3M in a funding round led by SoftBank Latin America Fund (TC)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• CNH Industrial’s truck and bus division Iveco Group fell up to 11% in its first day of trading, valuing the company at ~$4.4B (BBG)

Exec's Picks

• Still earning 0.2% yield on your checking account? Switch to ZeFi - a Y Combinator-backed company with an app to save, spend and earn up to 8% APY on your deposits. As a Visa Fintech Fastrack partner, they also provide you with a Visa debit card, allowing you to spend directly from your high yield account and earn 1-5% cash-back from over 12,000 merchants. Check them out here

• If Golf and Web3 are two of your interests, y'all gotta check out LinksDAO. They're creating the modern golf club and planning to buy a top-rated golf course with their treasury proceeds. Scooped up a membership this past weekend, worth being a part of history imho. See y'all at the 19th hole eventually.

The Hiring Block

If you're looking to break into finance, lateral, or move out, check out our job board on Pallet, where we curate highly relevant roles for you. We've got 30+ jobs spanning IB, S&T, VC, tech, private equity, DeFi, crypto, CorpDev and more. We sift through all the noise on LinkedIn, Indeed, Monster, etc. so you don't have to.

If you're looking to hire candidates and want to post a job, all you have to do is hit "+ Hire Talent" on the top right of the job board. If you want the role to be featured on Exec Sum, check out our "Featured" and "Premium" tiers.

Meme Cleanser

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