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Spirit and Frontier are merging to form the most budget airline of all time, Meta might pull out of Europe and Peter Thiel is pulling out of their board, IRS ends facial recognition (that was a thing?!?), Trump's SPAC is showing some cracks, and Sequoia bets big on the Polygon blockchain.

New episode of our podcast just dropped and it's a good one if you're in need of a laugh while you're cranking on a model. Check it out here.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

If you want to learn more about crypto trading strategies and the world of DeFi, check out our Foot Guns newsletter.

Markets

• US stocks slipped to start the week, with tech-heavy Nasdaq down 0.58% and leading the charge into the red

  • Meta dropped 5%+ yesterday, and has now slid more than 30% since last week’s earnings report

• Investors will continue to keep an eye on earnings reports, as more than 70 S&P companies are reporting this week

  • 77% of S&P companies have beat on earnings estimates so far

• Also in the forecast is January’s CPI data, which will be released on Thursday by the Labor Department

  • Investors will be watching closely for a gauge on inflation

Earnings

• Chegg shares jumped 12%+ AH yesterday after the edtech company beat estimates on both quarterly sales and profit

• Tyson stock gained 12%+ to ATHs after the company posted an earnings report showing nearly doubled quarterly profits due to rising meat prices in the US

• What we’re watching this week: Pfizer, Peloton, BP, Chipotle, Lyft

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Meta renews warning to EU it will be forced to pull Facebook (BBG)

• Needham’s Laura Martin says Netflix must alter strategy to win streaming wars (CNBC)

• Peter Thiel to step down from Facebook board (CNBC)

• Amazon raising base salary cap to $350K from $160K (BBG)

• IRS to end use of facial recognition to access tax accounts (BBG)

• Peter Thiel to step down from Facebook parent Meta’s board (WSJ)

• ‘Matrix’ co-producer sues Warner Bros. over HBO Max streaming release (WSJ)

• Feds will spend $1B to spur farmers and ranchers to fight climate change (CNBC)

• Spotify will invest $100M in content from underrepresented creators, according to its CEO (TC)

• Tech talent shortage is helping drive M&A deals (WSJ)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Nvidia is abandoning its $66B purchase of chip business Arm from SoftBank Group, bowing to regulatory opposition. SoftBank and Arm are entitled to keep $2B that Nvidia paid at signing, including a $1.25B breakup fee (BBG)

• British consumer goods company Reckitt Benckiser plans to review its infant nutrition unit Infamil and weigh options including a potential sale that could fetch $7.5-$8.8B (BBG)

• Blackstone is in talks about a potential merger of European building materials retailer Building Materials with Stark Group, a similar business owned by CVC, in a potential $6.9B deal - nice (BBG)

• Frontier Airlines and Spirit Airlines announced plans to merge in a $6.6B cash / stock deal, which would create the 5th largest US carrier (CNBC)

• Iliad, the French carrier backed by telecom billionaire Xavier Niel, made an offer for the Italian unit of Vodafone Group (BBG)

• Spanish oil major Repsol is considering putting some of its Canadian assets for sale that could fetch ~$590M (RT)

• Yamauchi No. 10 Family Office, the investment firm managing the wealth of Nintendo’s founders, agreed to buy a majority stake in Taiyo Pacific Partners, a US activist fund focused on Japanese equities (BBG)

• Dating app Bumble agreed to buy France’s Fruitz (RT)

VC

• Flexport, a platform for global logistics, raised a $935M Series E led by a16z (BW)

• Construction finance platform Built Technologies raised $213M in new funding, bringing its valuation to $1.5B (BW)

• Polygon, the Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solution blockchain, raised $450M in new venture financing led by Sequoia Capital India, with Tiger Global, SoftBank, Galaxy Digital, and numerous other funds participating in the private token purchase as well (TC)

• Blockchain privacy startup Aleo raised a $200M Series B at a $1.45B valuation led by Kora Management and SoftBank Vision Fund 2 (BW)

• Livspace, an online home interiors marketplace, raised a $180M Series F led by KKR (BBG)

• Taichi Graphics, a startup that aims to make 3D content creation easier, raised a $50M Series A co-led by Source Code Capital, GGV Capital, and BAI Capital (TC)

• Boutique hotel tech platform NUMA raised a $45M growth round led by DN Capital (TC)

• Nigerian healthtech startup Reliance Health raised a $40M Series B led by General Atlantic (TC)

• Selina, a London fintech startup which provides flexible Home Equity Line of Credit loans, raised a $35M Series B led by Lightrock; it also raised an additional $115M in debt from Goldman Sachs and GGC (TC)

• Morai, a South Korean-startup that provides autonomous vehicle developers with automotive simulation tools to verify safety and reliability of self-driving systems, raised a ~$21M Series B led by Korea Investment Partners along with KB Investment and Korea Development Bank (TC)

• Trialjectory, an AI-powered decision-support platform for patients, healthcare providers, and pharma, raised a $20M Series A led by Insight Partners (PRN)

• Curve Health, a startup building a connected senior care platform, raised a $12M Series A led by Morningside Ventures (PRN)

• Streetbeat, a free investing and trading app for stock and cryptocurrencies, raised a $10M seed round led by TTV Capital (BW)

• Vietnam-focused retail investment app Infina raised an additional $4M in seed funding, bringing it's total seed round to ~$6M (TC)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Abu Dhabi Ports raised $1.1B in a share sale and plans to list on the emirate’s stock market today (BBG)

SPAC

• The stock price of Digital World Acquisition Corp., the SPAC that partnered with Donald Trump’s social media firm, plunged as news of the delay in the app's launch spread on Twitter (CNBC)

Crypto Corner

• Researchers at the NY Fed believe stablecoins are not the future of payments (CD)

• Valkyrie Capital Bitcoin Mining ETF to Debut on Nasdaq (Decrypt)

• Cash App integrates Bitcoin’s Lightning Network (BM)

• Nike sued StockX for trademark infringement in latest NFT mint (TB)

• Crypto exchange giants will reportedly run ads during Super Bowl (TB)

Exec's Picks

• If you want to invest in alternative assets and don’t know where to look, try Alts. Alts is a newsletter that provides marketing-leading information on dozens of alternative investments, from islands, to domain names, to watches. Check it out.

• Yesterday, Jack Raines wrote a detailed piece on investor behavior. Specifically he covered the reason why investors seem to buy heavily at the highs and sell at the lows in market cycles. Check out When the ARKK Is Full.

Big Swinging Decks Podcast

🚨NEW BSD DROPPED LAST NIGHT🚨

“Cash or Pass” v1 - The Power of Simponomics

This week Lit and Mark riff off each other, catch up on Mark’s time in Oklahoma for the movie “The Line” (a Litquidity Co-Production), and play “Cash or Pass”. Be sure to take notes as Lit explains the market forces and dynamics behind “The Simp Economy”.

Catch Big Swinging Decks on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

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 40+ 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.

Meme Cleanser

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Catch the latest episode of our Big Swinging Decks podcast on Spotify and Apple Music 🤝