Good Morning and Happy Friday! Australia's' BHP Group bid $39 billion for London-based mining giant Anglo American. Google's parent company Alphabet issued its first-ever dividend and announced a $70 billion stock buyback program, stock jumped 12% after-hours. Jefferies CEO cashed in more than $65 million of his bank’s stock to buy a yacht. And Airbus wants to produce more A350s to take advantage of rival Boeing’s trouble. Plus GDP slowed to 1.4% last quarter, and Goldman’s bolstering its private equity banking team. 

_{SQUEEZ OF THE DAY}

No Chicken For Chipotle Employees

It’s been a wild few weeks at Chipotle. The company is defying the slowdown in the restaurant industry, posting impressive growth numbers.

And it seems like the al pastor chicken is so popular that the company’s Chief Restaurant Officer asked Chipotle employees not to order any chicken. Staff are allowed to order free or discounted meals, but employees were asked to save the chicken for customers.

Newport Beach, California-based Chipotle has more than 114,000 workers in the U.S. and Canada.

And maybe the most disgruntled employees? The rules applied to Chipotle’s white-collar office employees as well - they got free Monday lunch and weren’t allowed to order chicken…

The news enraged Chipotle’s staff, and as soon as the news broke yesterday, the chain immediately walked back its request. They said that the no-chicken policy was an ask, not a mandate, and now staff are free to order as much chicken as they’d like. 

Chipotle says they aren’t experiencing any chicken outages in stores and just wanted to maintain supply for customers because of the strong sales.

Takeaway: Chipotle marketing team definitely deserves a reserve after branding the chicken al pastor as a limited edition meal. The menu item makes up nearly 20% of Chipotle’s sales. And while last quarter the restaurant industry experienced a slowdown, Chipotle saw a 7% year-over-year increase in comparable restaurant sales.

_{PRESENTED BY RAD AI}

Invest In The AI Disrupting A $633B Industry 

Most marketing strategies are little more than estimations and guesswork, resulting in billions of missed opportunities and wasted resources everyday. 

The solution? RAD AI. Dubbed “essential AI” for brands, RAD decodes trillions of internet interactions into highly-valuable, actionable insights. These findings then inform marketing strategies with hard data to deliver outsized ROI. 

The numbers speak for themselves: 

• $27M raised from 6,500+ investors–including VCs and execs at Google, Amazon and Meta–and is backed by the Adobe Fund for Design.

• ~3X revenue growth from 2022 to 2023, all while landing major clients like Hasbro, Skechers, MGM Resorts, Sweetgreen and more.

Don’t miss out–RAD AI’s investment round closes soon.

_HEADLINES

Top Reads

• $39B mining mega-merger is all about the energy transition (Axios)

• Alphabet issues first-ever dividend, $70B stock buyback (CNBC)

• Jefferies CEO cashes in more than $65M stock to buy a yacht (Fox)

• Airbus lifts A350 rate, highlighting edge over Boeing (CNBC)

• The good and bad inside a worse-than-expected GDP report (Axios)

• GDP slowed to 1.4% in Q1 2024 (CNBC)

• Goldman bolsters private equity banking team (Axios)

• Red Lobster seeks a buyer as it looks to avoid bankruptcy filing (CNBC)

• Goldman talks with private credit for Beyond Meat (YF)

• Has Wall Street peaked too early this year? (Reuters)

• Meta loses $200B in value as Zuckerberg focuses on all the ways the company bleeds cash (CNBC)

• McKinsey is under criminal investigation for its opioid work (Reuters)

_{CAPITAL PULSE}

Markets Rundown

Stocks closed lower as inflation, growth worries resurface.

Movers & Shakers

• (+) Deutsche Bank ($DG) +9% after an investment banking revenue uptick.

• (+) Chipotle ($CMG) +6% after the fast-casual chain surpassed Wall Street earnings.

• (–) Meta ($META) -11% after announcing lighter-than-expected guidance.

Private Dealmaking

• IBM will buy HashiCorp for $6.4 billion

• GTCR bought AssetMark, a wealth management technology platform, for $2.7 billion

• Blackstone will buy Tropical Smoothie Cafe for around $2 billion

• Augment, an AI coding assistance startup, raised $252 million

• Labcorp bought the assets of Invitae for $239 million

• QI Tech, a banking-as-a-service company, raised $210 million

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

_{BOOK OF THE DAY}

Worthy

Jamie Kern Lima, who founded IT Cosmetics and became the first female CEO of L'Oreal, shares her own journey of overcoming self-doubt and rejection to achieve success.

The book aims to help readers break free from the lies and negative self-talk that hold them back from believing in their own worth. Lima argues that self-worth is the key to unlocking your potential and living a more fulfilling life.

She provides practical tools and strategies for cultivating self-worth, such as reframing your thoughts, setting boundaries, and surrounding yourself with positive influences.

Through personal stories and insights, Lima shows how transforming your self-worth can lead to greater happiness, healthier relationships, and the courage to pursue your dreams.

She encourages readers to embrace their authentic selves, trust their intuition, and not be afraid to be the "first" at something.

Overall, Worthy aims to empower readers, especially women, to know their value, ignore the naysayers, and boldly go after the life they desire. Lima's message is that once you truly believe you are enough, you can achieve anything you set your mind to

“When you change what you believe you're worthy of, you change your entire life.”

_{DAILY VISUAL}

Where States Land on Noncompete Bans

_{WALL STREET’S HOTTEST NEW SHIRT}

NEW RELEASE: Wall Street 80s Banker Shirt

Our exclusive, limited edition shirt is hot off the press and available for order.

Freshly steamed out of Patrick Bateman's closet, and so exclusive Paul Allen can't even get this shirt.

In a world of flash & greed, this tasteful striped contrast collar oxford shirt is the perfect mix of both business & style.

Pair it with your sleds & 1980s champagne dial Rolex Datejust while you're 'Walking on Sunshine' with your Sony walkman.

Limited release, no restocks once sold out. Buy here.

_{DAILY ACUMEN}

Repeatable

When striving to learn from and emulate the success of others, it's crucial to distinguish between skills and strategies that are repeatable versus those that arose from unique, non-replicable circumstances.

Just as a species losing a trait through evolution is unlikely to ever regain it, many factors contributing to an individual's or company's success - like specific market conditions, regulations, or timing - cannot be recreated.

The key is to identify the broader, timeless lessons about behavior, mindset and decision-making that can be applied across situations, rather than fixating on narrow tactics.

For example, while you may not be able to mirror Warren Buffett's exact investment plays from the 1950s, you can still learn much from his patience and discipline.

By focusing on extracting what is truly repeatable, you give yourself the best chance of achieving similar results through your own efforts in the present day.

_{ENLIGHTENMENT}

Short Squeez Picks

• Minimalism and the benefits of choosing a simple life

• 6 signs that you’re stuck in a negative narrative

• Study says you can learn to be happy, but it takes practice

• 10 ways to get out of your head and be a better leader 

• The immediate benefits of mindful meditation

_{MEME-A-PALOOZA}

Memes of the Day