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What did you do last week?
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Good Morning,
AI is speeding market reactions to Fed messages, Wall Street is pushing for full-blown PE ETFs, Warren Buffet dropped yet another insightful annual letter, and Musk hit the entire federal workforce with his iconic 'what did you do last week?' email.
A team of Zillow execs founded Pacaso to democratize co-ownership of premier properties and while they've already raised capital from top VCs, they're inviting retail investors to help them expand. Check out the opportunity.
Let's dive in.
Before The Bell

As of 2/21/2025 market close.
Click here to learn more about the Litquidity portfolios and subscribe to the strategies on Autopilot.*
Markets
US stocks cratered on Friday as investors reacted to a drop in consumer sentiment and rising inflation expectations
S&P and Dow posted their worst day YTD
Nasdaq had its worst day since the January DeepSeek AI frenzy
All three major indexes ended the week lower
US-London aluminum premium surged to the highest level since 2022 as traders stockpile ahead of US tariffs
Earnings
Berkshire Hathaway reported record Q4 and FY operating profit and boosted its cash pile to a record $334B; the firm also warned on US debt after paying 5% of all US corporate taxes, emphasized investments in Japanese trading houses, and erased DEI mentions (CNBC)
What we're watching this week:
Today: Domino's, Zoom, Hims & Hers
Tuesday: Home Depot, Cava, Instacart, AMC
Wednesday: Nvidia, Salesforce, Snowflake, Lowe's
Thursday: TD Bank Group, Dell
Full calendar here
Headline Roundup
DOGE emailed entire federal workforce 'what did you do last week?' (WSJ)
Business activity fell to a 17-month low as inflation expectations surge (RT)
AI is speeding market reactions to Fed messages (RT)
Companies are getting cold feet on IPOs (NYT)
Wall Street is selling ETFs that mimic the PE boom (BBG)
Wall Street is pushing back on tough margin rule for 0DTE options (BBG)
Equity funds attracted inflows for the first time in three weeks (RT)
Dollar reprieve brings global funds back to EM Asia stocks (BBG)
PIMCO now favors mortgage bonds over corporate debt (BBG)
Singapore launched a $3.7B program to boost stock market (RT)
China's local government bond rush is worsening liquidity strain (BBG)
China developers are buying land at 20% premiums in recovery bet (BBG)
US demanded EU antitrust chief to clarify rules on Big Tech (RT)
EU will charge Google for breaching Big Tech rules (RT)
EU will cut sustainability rules for companies (RT)
Shein profit dropped 40% last year in fresh challenge to IPO (FT)
US is investigating UnitedHealth's billing practices (WSJ)
Morgan Stanley toned down DEI emphasis in annual report (RT)
Zuckerberg's charity ended all DEI efforts (TC)
Boeing's chief aerospace safety officer will retire (RT)
Office occupancy hit a post-Covid high (WP)
A Message from Pacaso
Zillow's co-founder has a big new idea.
Spencer Rascoff co-founded Zillow, scaling it into a $16B real estate giant. But everyday investors couldn’t invest until after the IPO, missing early gains.
"I wish we had done a round accessible to retail investors prior to Zillow's IPO," Spencer later said.
Now he's doing just that. Spencer has teamed up with another Zillow exec to launch Pacaso. Pacaso's co-ownership marketplace is disrupting the $1.3T vacation home market. And unlike Zillow, you can invest in Pacaso as a private company.
With $100M+ in gross profits and rapid international expansion, Pacaso is scaling fast. Investors like Softbank, Maveron, and more are already on board.
*This is a paid advertisement for Pacaso’s Regulation A offering. Please read the offering circular at invest.pacaso.com.
Deal Flow
M&A / Investments
Japan's Seven & i Holdings selected Bain Capital over KKR and Japan Industrial Partners as its preferred buyer for a stake in its $4.7B York Holdings, which houses non-core assets
Asian tech firms Compal Electronics, Inventec, Pegatron, and Wistron are in talks to acquire AMD's data center manufacturing plants for $3B-$4B, including debt, which AMD inherited in its recent $4.9B acquisition of ZT Systems
Apollo is looking to buy Spain's Fotowatio Renewable Ventures from Saudi parent Abdul Latif Jameel Energy & Environmental Services for $2.1B
KKR is preparing to sell IT management firm BMC Helix at a $2B valuation, including debt
Blackstone is in advanced talks to acquire vaccine management company VaxCare from Summit Partners for $1.7B, including debt
KKR's revived $1.5B sale of logistics services provider Goodpack attracted interest from investment firms Apollo, Brookfield, I Squared Capital, and Stonepeak as well as China Merchants Group and China International Marine Containers
Australian wealth manager Perpetual rejected KKR's $1.4B bid for its wealth management and corporate trust units but confirmed plans to pursue a sale of its wealth management business separately
Shell will acquire interests in Ursa and Europa Fields and Ursa Oil Pipeline Company from ConocoPhillips for $735M
Carlyle and SK Capital Partners agreed to acquire cash-strapped gene-therapy company Bluebird bio for up to $96M
Apollo's structured credit affiliate Redding Ridge agreed to acquire $11B AUM CLO manager Irradiant Partners
PE firm JC Flowers acquired Infinite Investment Systems, a provider of portfolio management solutions to the Canadian wealth management industry
Goldman Sachs Alternatives acquired Trackunit, a SaaS and operating data platform for the construction ecosystem, from European PE firms Hg and GRO Capital
VC
Fiber-optic internet company Surf Internet raised $175M in funding led by Macquarie
AI search startup Genspark raised a $100M series A at a $530M valuation led by a group of US and Singapore-based investors
Healthy soda brand Olipop raised a $50M Series C at a $1.85B valuation led by JPMorgan Asset Management
Unit Network, a UK-based DeFi for RWA and digital assets trading, raised $18M in funding led by Blockchain Founders Fund and Outlier Ventures
Emtar Technologies, a wireless edge intelligence solutions company, raised a $13M angel round
Onetab.ai, a workplace SaaS startup simplifying software development processes, raised a $3.3M seed round led by LIT Fund and Orbit
Fomo, a fintech empowering technology and strategic partnerships, raised a $2M pre-seed round from numerous entrepreneurs and angels
Wall Street Prep received an investment from The Riverside Company
IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades
Abu Dhabi's ADNOC sold $2.84B of shares in ADNOC Gas to increase the subsidiary’s free float from 5% to 9%
New Zealand retirement village owner Ryman Healthcare is seeking to raise $570M in a discounted share sale to reduce debt
Chinese trading card and collectible toy company Kayou revived plans for a Hong Kong IPO that could raise $500M
Cineworld Group, which operates the Regal chain of theaters in the US, is considering an IPO and US merger opportunities
Military defense system supplier KNDS is weighing a Germany IPO this year
Offshore driller Constellation Oil Services is planning a Norway IPO
SPAC
Thai telecom Bangkok Tellink agreed to merge with Arogo Capital Acquisition Corp. in a $350M deal
Debt
Barclays, BBVA, and UBS were among European banks that sold $8B in dollar AT1 bonds to boost capital levels
India's Adani Green Energy is in talks with local lenders including Power Finance to refinance $1.1B of dollar debt in rupees
Energy drink-maker Celsius secured $1B of financing from lenders led by UBS to support its acquisition of Alani Nutrition
Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed
Hong Kong's CK Infrastructure made an $8.9B bid to take a majority stake in troubled UK water utility Thames Water
Troubled Chinese developer China Vanke will receive another $579M from its largest state shareholder Shenzhen Metro Group to repay debt
Hooters, the beloved sports bar and diner backed by Nord Bay Capital, is in talks to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to address debt and liquidity concerns
Fundraising
Sculptor Capital Management raised $3B for its fifth flagship real estate fund
UK-based Gemcorp Capital is raising $2B for a new EM private credit fund
Cambridge-backed VC Cambridge Innovation Capital launched a new $125M fund to invest in start-ups in the region
Crypto Sum Snapshot
Crypto exchange Bybit lost $1.5B in crypto's largest hack ever
SEC dropped its high-profile lawsuit against Coinbase
Crypto firms boost sports spending amid Trump bump
Franklin Templeton filed for a Solana ETF as interest expands beyond Bitcoin
Check out our Crypto Sum newsletter for the full stories on everything crypto!
Exec’s Picks
Warren Buffet made a rare insinuation on the state of US equity markets as Berkshire Hathaway sits on a record cash pile. But that was only one of many interesting messages he had for shareholders in his annual letter. Read his full letter here.
T. Rowe Price CIO Sébastien Page explained the importance of recognizing the role of luck in investing.
Derek Thompson wrote an interesting piece on how Covid cemented low confidence in institutions and pushed the younger generation to the right.
Financial Services Recruiting 💼
If you're a junior banker looking for your next career move, check out Litney Partners, a recruiting firm established by Litquidity and Whitney Partners (the oldest purely financial services executive search and consulting firm).
We aim to place strong candidates across private equity, hedge funds, venture capital, growth equity, credit, and investment banking.
We're currently seeking talent for some incredible roles. Head over to Litney Partners to drop your resume / create your profile and we'd love to get in touch!
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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"
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