Good Morning! It’s officially intern szn on Wall Street, and investors have a new word of the summer - bifurcation. Nvidia is set to overtake Apple as the world's second-most valuable company, and Amazon Prime members just got free food delivery. Many of the 800k+ former First Republic clients who recently transitioned into JPMorgan Chase accounts are underwhelmed by their new bank. And while inflation seems like it’s cooling again, Americans aren’t buying it. Plus advice for summer interns from Jefferies CEO, Rich Handler.

Learn how to harness AI to grow your business (and bottom line) from Harvard Business Review-AS. Register for the no-cost webinar, sponsored by Datasite, on June 6th.

_{SQUEEZ OF THE DAY}

Ackman Wants to IPO

Bill Ackman has become one of the largest celebrity-like figures on Wall Street over the past few years. From making billions betting the economy would collapse during the pandemic or taking major positions in Chipotle and Pacific Railroad - the hedge fund manager also made waves for helping push out Ivy League presidents and feuding with Business Insider.

And now Bill Ackman wants to capitalize on his fanfare by taking his hedge fund, Pershing Square Capital, public.

Pershing Square was started by Ackman in 2004, and at the end of April had around $16.3 billion of assets under management.

Ackman wants to take Pershing Square public as early as next year. And he’s already setting the groundwork - selling shares in a round that values the firm at $10.5 billion.

And it’s a risky bet - the markets haven't viewed hedge funds favorably since the 2008-09 financial crisis. A hedge fund like Pershing Square will need to fight an uphill battle to win over investors - hedge fund management/performance fees can be unpredictable, and there’s always a risk assets can shrink or returns will be volatile.

But at the same time, private equity firms have been able to successfully IPO amidst similar headwinds. Pershing Square sees itself as more of a 'durable' asset manager rather than a traditionally volatile long-short fund.

In 2023, Pershing Square achieved net gains of $3.5 billion, bringing total gains to $18.8 billion since its founding, ranking it as the 20th best-performing hedge fund in the world. Despite previous losses, the fund generated $12.3 billion in the three years ending in 2023.

Takeaway: Ackman has the brand and following to attract strong investor interest, but it will be a challenging task. This would be the first hedge fund IPO in years, as interest in money managers waned after a surge of IPOs before the 2008 crisis. Despite the challenge, if anyone can pull it off, it's Bill Ackman—Wall Street's very own Houdini.

_{PRESENTED BY DATASITE}

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_HEADLINES

Top Reads

• Bifurcation is the word of the summer on Wall Street (CNN)

• Rich Handler: What you need to know as a summer intern (Jefferies)

• Prime members just got free food delivery, Amazon could get 18% of Grubhub (FC)

• ​Nvidia set to overtake Apple as world's second-most valuable company (Reuters)

• JPMorgan’s First Republic backlash (WSJ)

• Inflation seems to be cooling again. Americans aren’t buying it (CNN)

• Meta seeks to revitalize Facebook's image among Gen Z  (YF)

• France is aiming to become a global AI superpower (CNBC)

• Vista Equity writes off PluralSight value, after $3.5 billion buyout (Axios)

• Wall Street shrugs off Trump convictions (Axios)

• Boeing, NASA cancel Starliner launch attempt (CNBC)

• The SEC ruling on Ethereum ETFs could mark a historic shift in crypto investing (CNBC)

_{CAPITAL PULSE}

Markets Rundown

Stocks closed higher as chipmakers dominate the industry.

Movers & Shakers

• (+) Gap ($GPS) +29% as the retailer swings to profit and raises guidance.

• (+) Ambarella ($AMBA) +21% after the chipmaker announced that it expected revenues to continue growing in fiscal 2025.

• (–) Dell Technologies ($DELL) -18% after executives cautioned that its gross margins could face more pressure in 2025.

Private Dealmaking

• Cloover, a subscription service for renewable energy, raised $114 million

• Frore DSystems, a device cooling chip maker, raised $80 million

• Babylon, a Bitcoin staking protocol, raised $70 million

• Natural Cycles, a fertility app maker, raised $55 million

• Wayspring, a substance-use disorder treatment provider, raised $45 million

• Doconomy, a climate fintech startup, raised $37 million

For more PE, VC & M&A deals, subscribe to our Buysiders newsletter.

_{BOOK OF THE DAY}

Unstressable

Mo Gawdat is an engineer. What most of us see as insurmountable problems he sees as systems overloads to tackle and solve.

Unstressable breaks stress into inputs and effects, classifying human stressors as: stress to the mind, stress to emotions, stress to the body, and stress to the soul.

Once classified, Gawdat and co-author Alice Law show readers how stress can be predicted―and once predicted, prevented.

Unstressable illuminates for readers how most of us deal with the unpleasant, anxiety-producing and even miserable or tragic events in our lives: stress is always a by-product, leading directly to inability to cope, health problems and cratered confidence.

Gawdat and Law guide readers to both heart centred and science-based solutions.

“Stress isn’t what happens to you; it’s how you handle what happens to you.”

_{DAILY VISUAL}

Four Years After Covid: Downtown Recovery Remains Weak

_{PRESENTED BY BILL}

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_{DAILY ACUMEN}

Do What You Say

Musonius Rufus emphasized the importance of practicing what you preach.

It's easy to give advice and criticize, but living by your principles is the real challenge.

Hypocrisy undermines respect and influence; honesty and hard work should be demonstrated, not just talked about.

Leading by example earns genuine admiration.

Actions speak louder than words, so align your actions with your values, not for external validation, but because you hold yourself accountable.

Show up, do the work, and embody the principles you advocate.

_{ENLIGHTENMENT}

Short Squeez Picks

• When someone you manage isn’t following the return-to-office policy

• 8 behaviors self-absorbed people usually display

• Risk seeking vs. mitigating

• How to reimagine success at work

• Comfort and convenience aren’t the same

_{MEME-A-PALOOZA}

Memes of the Day

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