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🍋 M&A Is Back—If You Know Where to Look

🍋 M&A Is Back—If You Know Where to Look

Plus: Newsmax moons over 2,000%, there are now 3,000 billionaires in the world, and Hooters blames private equity for bankruptcy.

Short Squeez
April 02, 2025

Together With

"A focused hour outweighs an unfocused day." — Shane Parrish

Good Morning! Newsmax’s IPO rally isn’t cooling down any time soon - the company’s stock soared another 183% yesterday, pushing its two-day rally to 2,050%. Forbes’ Billionaire list added 3,000 individuals for the first time.

Goldman got criticized for massive executive bonuses, and Hooters filed for bankruptcy and blamed private equity ownership.

Plus: the DOJ will seek the death penalty for Luigi, the job market is cooling, and KKR wants to acquire a sewage company.

Today’s partner is for all those seeking to level up their career this summer.

_{SQUEEZ OF THE DAY}

M&A Is Back—If You Know Where to Look

Coming into 2025, Wall Street was hoping for a massive boom in M&A activity. But while President Trump hasn’t delivered the megadeals that investment bankers love, you shouldn’t write off dealmaking just yet. Mergers and acquisitions are roaring back, but only if you know where to look.

Last quarter, $10 billion-plus transactions were down 28% globally, but there was actually a surge in mid-sized deals valued between $1 billion and $10 billion, up 38% in value and 31% in volume from last year.

While these mid-size deals might not be the ones you see in the Wall Street Journal - they are still keeping investment bankers at work…and all of them add up. And the total stats were padded by international deal value. In the U.S., deal value was down 8%, but Europe saw gains of 8.4%.

Globally, the sectors that performed the best in total M&A activity were tech and healthcare. While there were some noticeable acquisitions like Google’s $32 billion deal for Wiz and Johnson & Johnson’s $14 billion Intra-Cellular Therapies acquisition...there were also high-profile, mid-tier deals like Pepsi acquiring Poppi for $1.6 billion, or Rocket Cos. buying Redfin for $1.75 billion.

Another reason for the boom in mid-size deals? They’re just small enough that they dodge antitrust heat and financing hurdles, but big enough to keep dealmakers busy and growth-minded firms happy.

Takeaway: M&A is back, but it just might not be where Wall Street’s looking. There’s a lot of smart money on mid-sized deals and sectors like tech and pharma. Hopefully, we’ll see more of an M&A surge in 2025 but for now, the revival’s already here if you dig past the headlines.

_{PRESENTED BY KNOPMAN MARKS}

Wall Street’s Top Firms Trust Knopman Marks—You Should Too.

Passing a securities exam isn’t just about memorizing facts—it’s about training the way top finance professionals do.

Knopman Marks is the go-to prep provider for aspiring finance professionals, trusted by the biggest firms on Wall Street. Their approach goes beyond the textbook, equipping candidates with the skills to learn faster, retain more, and apply knowledge under pressure.

A Smarter Way to Study: Learn using science-backed memory techniques designed for long-term retention.
More Than Just Instructors: Train with industry veterans who know what it takes to succeed.
Performance-Driven Results: An adaptive learning process tailored to how you absorb information best.

Pass with confidence and set yourself apart in a competitive job market.

_HEADLINES

Markets Rundown

US Stocks Mostly Rose on Tuesday

Growth sectors like communication services and consumer discretionary led, but healthcare lagged, dragged by a 7.6% drop in Johnson & Johnson after a bankruptcy judge rejected its $10B talc lawsuit settlement.

European markets also climbed, with eurozone CPI easing to 2.2% year-over-year. 10-year Treasury yields dipped below 4.2%, reflecting caution.

The tariff announcement has markets on edge—S&P 500’s down 8% from its peak since mid-February.

Trump’s reciprocal tariff plan could spike prices and slow growth, fueling volatility.

Diversification is key: while U.S. large-caps lost 4% in Q1, international developed large-caps gained 7%, emerging markets rose 3%, and U.S. investment-grade bonds added 2.8%.

Labor and manufacturing data showed cracks: JOLTS job openings hit 7.6M in February, slightly below forecasts but still above the unemployed count, signaling a tight market.

ISM Manufacturing PMI slipped to 49 in March from 50.3, dipping into contraction—its new orders component cratered to 45.2, the lowest since May 2023, hinting at weaker demand despite some pre-tariff order spikes.

Clear tariff policy and potential Fed rate cuts could lift manufacturing and growth in 2025, but uncertainty lingers.

Movers & Shakers

(+) Newsmax ($NMAX) +183% after a two-day, 2050% rally following its IPO.
(+) CoreWeave ($CRWV) +42% because of a rebound from the chipmakers’ IPO selloff.
(–) Johnson & Johnson ($JNJ) -8% after a federal judge rejects a bid to settle the company’s baby powder cases.

Private Dealmaking

AiRNA, an RNA editing startup, raised $155 million
Focused Energy, a fusion energy reaction startup, raised $150 million
GridPoint, a commercial building decarbonization startup, raised $45 million
MemryX, an edge AI chips developer, raised $44 million
Rogo AI, a genAI for banking provider, raised $40 million
LightSource, a supply chain software startup, raised $33 million

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

_{BOOK OF THE DAY}

Wild Courage

What if the traits you need to get ahead are the exact opposite of what you’ve been told?

To be successful you need to be Weird, Selfish, Shameless, Obsessed, Nosy, Manipulative, Brutal, Reckless, and Bossy. And that takes courage.

As a former Google leader and top career coach who chased an attractive stranger off the subway and later married him, Jenny Wood knows her way around courage.

In this book, Wood shatters conventional wisdom about achieving your goals. She gives you permission to ditch your fear and chase after what you want, unapologetically.

Wood reclaims nine traits from their negative shackles and teaches you how to apply them in a savvy and sane way to supercharge your success, whether you’re trying to impress your new boss, snag a stretch promotion, or land a life-changing deal.

“A bold, empowering, and energizing guide to embracing your ambition and chasing after what you want from an executive who spent nearly two decades climbing the ranks at Google.”

_{DAILY VISUAL}

Americans Dislike Tariffs

Source: Axios

_{PRESENTED BY HEBBIA}

Delegate Your Diligence

Finance professionals need tools that work as hard as they do. Hebbia’s Matrix delivers powerful solutions to streamline your workflow and give you a competitive edge. Here’s how top firms use Hebbia:

Summarize 200+ earnings calls annually without breaking a sweat.
Review offering memorandums 5x faster to keep pace with changing markets.
Identify red flags, compare risks, and extract critical terms in minutes.
Turn diligence notes into IC-ready investment memos.

Whether you’re tracking opportunities, managing risk, or drafting IC memos, Hebbia helps finance teams get more done in less time, without sacrificing quality.

_{DAILY ACUMEN}

F*ck You Money

“F*ck you” money isn’t a magic number—it’s a range where you’re free, not owned by your cash.

Too little, and you’re broke, trapped in poverty with no options: a $25k/year earner in Atlanta can’t save, so a car breakdown or medical bill means debt.

Too much, and you’re a slave to your wealth—think billionaires like Elon Musk, working 120-hour weeks, missing weddings, and crying on his birthday, or Warren Buffett, living apart from his wife for 27 years.

The ultra-rich face divorces (10 richest men had 13), public scrutiny (John Cena’s forced apology over Taiwan), and fake friends chasing their wallet.

Freedom comes between: enough to cover emergencies, quit a bad job, or travel without stress—like $50k saved for flexibility.

But cross into obsession—like day trading to $410k and craving more—you’re not free, you’re chained.

True “f*ck you” money means you don’t think about money at all, just live on your terms, no strings, no stress, with a sly grin.

_{ENLIGHTENMENT}

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_MEME_-A-PALOOZA

Memes of the Day

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