Finance Knuggets
Jan 29, 2026
Email Summaries Based on Provided Text:
===Email 1: Money Stuff: The Killer Non-Acquisitions===
– Discusses “fake” or “killer non-acquisitions” where companies engage in merger talks without intent to close to stifle competition.
– Examples include Phillips 66 vs Propel Fuels, Novo Nordisk vs Metsera, and Post Road Group vs Planet Networks.
– Highlights potential antitrust regulatory problems where signing a deal can harm competition even if the deal does not close.
– Senate subcommittee raises concerns over Netflix-Warner Bros deal as potentially abusive of merger review.
– Covers financial journalism trends, including using sports or celebrity connections to engage audiences.
– Details a hedge fund/newspaper Hunterbrook that combines financial activism and media savvy.
– Covers Optimum Communications’ antitrust lawsuit over creditor cooperation agreements and the fallout including Kirkland & Ellis quitting as legal counsel.
– Discusses crypto as practice ground for prediction markets and a shift back to traditional sports gambling.
– Explains “accretive dilution” where companies sell stock at a premium to buy assets, increasing per-share value.
– Ends with market news highlights and miscellaneous financial news.
===Email 2: Asian Business Review===
– Covers Asian business news with topics such as IPO market rebound to $2.54 billion driven by major REITs.
– UOB predicts 20% growth in China’s vehicle exports in 2026.
– Discusses India’s lag in climate disclosures per investor demands.
– Reporting on shifts in China’s oil imports and tanker usage.
– Global data center growth predicted at $3 trillion investment through 2030.
– Questions about sustainability of Indonesian insurers’ growth targets.
– Highlights tax and finance department modernization efforts by EY.
– Julius Baer recommends tactical investment approach for 2026.
– Features commentary and sponsored content on digital transformation and cybersecurity in Asia.
– Upcoming event listings include Asian Telecom Awards and business excellence events.
– Information about the publication’s scope and contact details.
===Email 3: Need to Know: Investors need to own the weak dollar and soaring gold===
– Hedge fund veteran Alexander Campbell recommends owning both gold and a hedged position in the US dollar.
– Argues that gold positions are effectively short dollar; unhedged gold investors expose themselves to dollar weakness.
– Suggests that “debasement” trades (fiat to gold/bitcoin) are more sentiment-driven than actual capital flight.
– Advises monitoring foreign investor flows in S&P 500, Treasurys for signs of dollar doom.
– Market update includes strong tech stock futures and gold/silver price surges.
– Companies such as Microsoft, Meta, Tesla to report earnings; Amazon announces layoffs.
– Best performing stocks and random reads featured.
– Educational content includes charts on stock vs gold investments and predictive market information.
===Email 4: Axios Pro Rata: TikTok turmoils===
– TikTok U.S. faces allegations of content censorship and technical malfunctions, damaging user confidence.
– Partial liquidity events in ByteDance investors, some exited, some retained stakes.
– Highlights Waabi’s $750 million Series C funding, potentially largest Canadian startup deal.
– Summarizes large VC deals in AI, biotech, crypto payments, health insurance, challenger banking, and other tech sectors.
– Reports on recent mergers and acquisitions including CVC’s stake in Equine Network and Bain Capital’s acquisitions.
– SpaceX IPO planning for late June timed with planetary alignment and Elon Musk’s birthday.
– Covers company fundraises by VC firms, government asset manager consolidations, and personnel moves.
– Ends with consumer confidence data and quantum technology use cases from Infleqtion.
===Email 5: [REPORT] Where Investor Capital Is Flowing in 2026s===
– Discusses key fundraising lessons from serial entrepreneurs: importance of thick skin, structured processes, and trusting instinct with investors.
– Highlights AI tools for secure billing and revenue data management.
– Announces upcoming SaaS CFO events on expense control, ARR, and pricing in the AI era.
– Shares founder insights on investor engagement strategies including connecting with associates, detailed FAQs, and importance of investor-founder chemistry.
– Mentions SaaS funding data, software category segmentation tool, and fundraising report availability.
– Personal background of author and affiliate link disclosure.
– Provides partnerships for bookkeeping, tax help, and sponsorship offers.
===Email 6: Money Stuff: The Stars Are Aligned for SpaceXs===
– Opens with a discussion on investing and astrology: often irrational but market impact comes from investor psychology.
– Reports SpaceX plans IPO in mid-June 2026 timed with rare planetary alignment and Elon Musk’s birthday aiming for $50bn raise at approx $1.5tn valuation.
– Covers corporate incentive and accounting issues around ADM Nutrition division profit shifting to inflate favored division results, leading to SEC lawsuit and $40 million settlement.
– Discusses investment banking culture: management’s push for more M&A deal activity.
– Notes that many top AI researchers express significant concern about AI risks yet lead development.
– Talks about AI whistleblower policies at OpenAI and Anthropic as competitive recruiting tools.
– Presents emerging trend of “neolabs,” AI startups prioritizing long-term research over short-term profits.
– News snippets on various market and company updates, layoffs, mergers, and investigations.
– Ends with references and call to subscribe.
These summaries represent the core content and major themes of the six emails provided based on the text.
Stay Well!
