Good Morning! It looks like someone at the New York Stock Exchange already put the interns to work. Yesterday, a “technical issue” halted trading for over 40 major stocks, causing Berkshire Hathaway to drop by 99.997%. Paramount and Skydance agreed to the terms of a merger deal. Spotify is hiking its prices again, and Nvidia’s stock popped after announcing new AI chips. Plus the logical way to find a life partner.

The May edition of our Buysiders newsletter is now live, featuring the month's three largest deals, including Uber's acquisition of Foodpanda. Read here.

_{SQUEEZ OF THE DAY}

One Man Against the Markets

It’s been a wild past month for GameStop - and it’s bringing back memories of meme stock mania back from the pandemic.

This past Sunday, the infamous retail investor Keith “Roaring Kitty” Gill revealed that he had built a $116 million position in GameStop. The news caused $GME to soar up to 70% in premarket trading. It is truly incredible how one man, tweeting from his basement, can single-handedly move billions of dollars.

But it seems like E*Trade has had enough. The platform is considering kicking Roaring Kitty off of its platform. The reason? Concerns over potential stock manipulation.

It kind of makes sense where E*Trade is coming from - Gill posting a single screenshot can send $GME soaring up to 100%. The gains he posted on the position totaled almost $100 million. And GameStop is still up 60% since a single Tweet by Gill sent the meme stock out of its hibernation. 

The SEC and Massachusetts Securities Division are reportedly investigating Gill, too. So it’s likely Roaring Kitty will have to lawyer up - and we might finally be seeing the end of the meme stock craze.

Takeaway: E*Trade is concerned that Roaring Kitty can pump up GameStop for his own benefit. There's still a lot of grey area over whether his actions amounted to stock manipulation. But one of the reasons for letting Gill keep his E*Trade account? The firm doesn’t want to cause attention by outright banning him - that could cause a whole army of his meme stock followers to make E*Trade and Morgan Stanley their next target. What a time to be alive.

_{PRESENTED BY MERCURY}

Founders: Spending Too Much Time On Finances?

…and not enough time growing your business? 

Look, founders should be focused on attracting customers, pinpointing product-market fit, and managing runway–NOT getting sidetracked in a swamp of financial complexities. That's why Mercury simplifies all your financial operations by powering them from the bank account* and shares the intel you need to succeed.

Check out The Startup Guide To Simplifying Financial Workflows, by Mercury’s VP of Finance Dan Kang.

He details how founders and early teams can master key fundamentals, like:

• Basic bookkeeping

• Payroll

• Performance analytics

• Vendor and customer payments

• Taxes and legal obligations

(Don’t worry, it’s a quick, heavy-hitting read you can digest today.)

Read the guide and learn how to simplify your financial operations from the start!

_HEADLINES

Top Reads

• GameStop soars after Roaring Kitty reveals $116 million position (YF)

• E*Trade considering kicking meme-stock leader Keith “Roaring Kitty” Gill off platform (Reuters)

• NYSE says technical issue caused Berkshire Hathaway to be displayed down 99% (CNBC)

• Feds accuse Trillium Capital of $4B pump-and-dump scheme (Axios)

• Paramount and Skydance agree to terms of a merger deal (CNBC)

• Just 6 stocks fueled 75% of the S&P 500's latest banner month (YF)

• Spotify is hiking its prices again (CNN)

• For private credit’s top talent, $1M/year isn’t enough (YF)

• Samuel Adams brewer reportedly on the block, as U.S. beer sales fall (Axios)

• Nvidia stock pops more than 3% after previewing next-gen Rubin AI chip (YF)

• Bill Ackman officially sold a 10% stake in Pershing Square for over $1 billion (Axios)

• Arm aims to capture 50% of PC market within five years (Reuters)

_{CAPITAL PULSE}

Markets Rundown

S&P 500, Nasdaq end higher after choppy session.

Movers & Shakers

• (+) GameStop ($GME) +21% after Roaring Kitty revealed a $116 million position.

• (+) Paramount ($PARA) +7% after agreeing to merger terms with Skydance.

• (–) Cava ($CAVA) -5% after a downgrade by JPMorgan.

Private Dealmaking

• Waste Management bought the medical waste disposal firm Stericycle for $7.2 billion

• BD bought the critical care product unit of Edwards Lifesciences for $4.2 billion 

• Bill Ackman sold a 10% stake in Pershing Square for over $1 billion

• LabGenius, a drug discovery startup, raised $45 million

• Transcend, a data privacy platform, raised $40 million

• Praktika, a language learning app, raised $36 million

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

_{BOOK OF THE DAY}

Magic Pill

In January 2023, Johann Hari started to inject himself once a week with Ozempic, one of the new drugs that produces significant weight loss. He wasn’t alone—some predictions suggest that in a few years, a quarter of the U.S. population will be taking these drugs.

While around 80 percent of diets fail, someone taking one of the new drugs will lose up to a quarter of their body weight in six months. To the drugs’ defenders, here is a moment of liberation from a condition that massively increases your chances of diabetes, cancer, and an early death.

Still, Hari was wildly conflicted. Can these drugs really be as good as they sound? Are they a magic solution—or a magic trick? Finding the answer to this high-stakes question led him on a journey from Iceland to Minneapolis to Tokyo, and to interview the leading experts in the world on these questions. He found that along with the drug’s massive benefits come twelve significant potential risks.

He also found that these drugs radically challenge what we think we know about shame, willpower, and healing. What do they reveal about the nature of obesity itself? What psychological issues begin to emerge when our eating patterns are suddenly disrupted? Are the drugs a liberation or a further symptom of our deeply dysfunctional relationship with food?

These drugs are about to change our world, for better and for worse. Everybody needs to understand how they work—scientifically, emotionally, and culturally. Magic Pill is an essential guide to the revolution that has already begun, and which one leading expert argues will be as transformative as the invention of the smartphone.

“The first way that ultra-processed food undermines our satiety is strangely simple. You chew it less.”

_{DAILY VISUAL}

Starter Homes are Turning into Forever Homes

Share of first-time homebuyer mortgage applications

_{PRESENTED BY TiiCKER}

There’s Hidden Treasure In Your Portfolio. Here’s How To Find It

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Signing up takes minutes, and linking your brokerage is secure and easy.

Don’t wait–join 50,000+ investors reaping the rewards of stock ownership today.

_{DAILY ACUMEN}

Beyond Control

The ancient Stoic philosopher Epictetus wisely stated, "Our master is anyone who has the power to implement or prevent the things that we want or don't want."

Too often, we fall into the trap of seeking external validation, craving likes on social media, promotions at work, and admiration from our peers.

However, these things are beyond our control, and chasing after them can lead to a constant state of dissatisfaction and unhappiness.

True freedom lies in focusing on what you can control – your actions, thoughts, and responses to adversity.

By letting go of the desire for external validation and embracing the challenges of life as opportunities for growth, you reclaim your power, autonomy, and find true contentment within.

_{ENLIGHTENMENT}

Short Squeez Picks

• How to deal with feelings of not being good enough

• 3 questions to overcome the fear of success

• The logical way to find a life partner

• How to use the calendar rule to make better decisions and motivate yourself

• Why referent power is the ultimate form of influence

_{MEME-A-PALOOZA}

Memes of the Day

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