Good Morning! A new study found that hybrid work beats the 5-day-in-office work. Wall Street bankers and lawyers are losing out on hundreds of millions in fees after Paramount’s scrapped Skydance merger.

Netflix is looking for a production partner for its Christmas NFL games. Cava is worth $33M per restaurant after its blistering IPO debut, and stock splits are starting to make a comeback.

Plus Wrigley is rebranding gum as a mindfulness tool to combat slowing sales, and how one of New York City’s dingiest neighborhoods became a new tech hub. Plus the best survival meals for stressed-out adults, and top 30 Wall Street intern stories.

Looking for niche private market opportunities led by a Wall Street veteran with skin in the game? Check out today’s sponsor, 10 East.

_{SQUEEZ OF THE DAY}

Pharma Bro Strikes Again

You might have thought Martin Shkreli and the Wu-Tang Saga was a thing of the past. But apparently not - Shkreli is in more legal trouble because he just can’t seem to stop trolling.

Shkreli made waves after buying the Wu-Tang Clan album for $2 million in 2015. And it didn’t help that Shkreli bought it in the months after his infamous price hike of a life-saving drug. The album was the most expensive piece of music sold at the time.

Shkreli had to forfeit the album as part of his 2017 fraud conviction (and a lifetime ban from the pharma industry). 

But Shkreli kept copies and even played the album online recently. PleasrDAO, the current owners who bought the album for $4.75 million, slapped Shkreli with a lawsuit. The judge seems to think PleasrDAO has a solid case and has temporarily barred Shkreli from streaming or sharing copies of the ultra-rare Wu-Tang Clan album.

Apparently, Shkreli took to social media to announce a listening party for the album. He streamed it on X Spaces, where thousands tuned in. PleasrDAO's lawyer pointed out that Shkreli's antics could have consequences beyond just this lawsuit, hinting at potential further legal action.

Takeaway: Shkreli is known for his antics - which continue to stir up both legal and public ire. Shkreli just couldn’t let go - admitting to playing and distributing the album even after his prison release in 2022. And with a hearing on the horizon, Shkreli might need to cough over the remaining copies he has. Looks like for Pharma Bro, the saga continues... like a never-ending remix.

_{PRESENTED BY 10 EAST}

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_HEADLINES

Top Reads

• Wall Street bankers, lawyers losing out over $100M after Paramount’s scrapped merger (NYP)

• Netflix hunts for a production partner for its Christmas NFL games (CNBC)

• Hybrid beats 5-day weeks in study (Nature)

• Cava is worth $33M per restaurant after blistering IPO debut (YF)

• Private equity firms have avoided taxation on over $1 trillion of income (YF)

• Stock splits make a comeback (CNBC)

• Gum rebranded as mindfulness tool (WSJ)

• How one of New York City’s dingiest neighborhoods became a new tech hub (FC)

• William Donaldson, investment banker who led SEC, dies at 93 (BB)

• Price cuts will lift US vibes only so much (Reuters)

• Top 30 Wall Street Intern Stories (Short Squeez)

• John Kissick, a builder of PE firms Apollo and Ares, dies at 82 (BB)

• Gen Z in focus as Walmart relaunches private-label fashion line (Reuters)

_{CAPITAL PULSE}

Markets Rundown

Stocks closed mixed as investors make sense of inflation news.

Movers & Shakers

• (+) Adobe ($ADBE) +15% after company rides the AI wave to post record revenue.

• (+) Hasbro ($HAS) +6% because company’s digital gaming division is gaining traction amid weaker toy demand.

• (–) Carnival ($CCL) -7% after Bank of America analyst raises a price concern.

Private Dealmaking

• Tempus AI, a data and analytics provider, raised $411 million

• AccountsIQ, an accounting platform, raised $65 million 

• Enveda, a drug discovery startup, raised $55 million 

• Mad Mobile, a restaurant and retail payment SaaS, raised $50 million

• Canopy, an accounting software provider, raised $35 million

• Brixton Biosciences, a chronic pain therapies developer, raised $33 million

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

_{BOOK OF THE DAY}

The Art Thief

In this spellbinding portrait of obsession and flawed genius, the best-selling author of The Stranger in the Woods brings us into Breitwieser’s strange world—unlike most thieves, he never stole for money, keeping all his treasures in a single room where he could admire them.

For centuries, works of art have been stolen in countless ways from all over the world, but no one has been quite as successful at it as the master thief Stéphane Breitwieser.

Carrying out more than two hundred heists over nearly eight years—in museums and cathedrals all over Europe—Breitwieser, along with his girlfriend who worked as his lookout, stole more than three hundred objects, until it all fell apart in spectacular fashion.

In The Art Thief, Michael Finkel brings us into Breitwieser’s strange and fascinating world. Unlike most thieves, Breitwieser never stole for money.

Instead, he displayed all his treasures in a pair of secret rooms where he could admire them to his heart’s content. Possessed of a remarkable athleticism and an innate ability to circumvent practically any security system, Breitwieser managed to pull off a breathtaking number of audacious thefts.

Yet these strange talents bred a growing disregard for risk and an addict’s need to score, leading Breitwieser to ignore his girlfriend’s pleas to stop—until one final act of hubris brought everything crashing down.

This is a riveting story of art, crime, love, and an insatiable hunger to possess beauty at any cost.

“One of the most remarkable true-crime narratives of the twenty-first century.”

_{DAILY VISUAL}

Consensus Very Bullish on the US Consumer

_{DAILY ACUMEN}

5 Second Rule

The 5 second rule is a simple but powerful tool to beat procrastination and boost productivity.

The premise is that you must physically move within 5 seconds of having an instinct to act on a goal or task.

When your brain gets an idea to do something productive, it provides a short burst of motivational energy.

However, that motivation quickly dissipates if you don't use it right away. By counting backwards 5-4-3-2-1 and then physically moving towards your task, you catch the motivation while it's there and overcome the inertia of procrastination.

It creates a powerful mind-body connection that propels you into action before your brain can get hijacked by distractions or excuses.

Consistently using the 5 second rule builds a habit of acting on your intentions, allowing you to achieve more while procrastinating less.

_{ENLIGHTENMENT}

Short Squeez Picks

• Barbara Corcoran says your happiness in life comes down to 4 rules

• 4 signs your partner is emotionally intelligent

• The best survival meals for stressed-out adults

• How to stay motivated when you’re not in the mood

• 11 of the best methods for decluttering your home

_{MEME-A-PALOOZA}

Memes of the Day