Ryan Gould

KKR turned Atlantic Aviation from a 67-location locally managed business into a 108-location national infrastructure platform with a proprietary operating system, exploiting scarce airport real estate. Apollo's purchase at nearly a $10 billion valuation, versus the $4.5 billion KKR paid, validates the scarcity value KKR built.

Broadcom's $30 billion chip partnership with Apple signals alignment with the administration's Made in America agenda and extends a long-standing supply relationship. Shares rose on the news and investors should be pleased with the development.

"Stripe... is preliminarily interested in parts or even all of PayPal... people are looking at this as a potential take out candidate, also as a breakup candidate." PayPal is trading at a "fraction of what it was," making it a deep value target. The emergence of a suitor like Stripe validates the asset's underlying value and suggests a potential premium will be offered to shareholders, or that a value-unlocking breakup is on the table. LONG PYPL as an M&A arbitrage and value play. Preliminary talks may not lead to a formal offer; regulatory/antitrust bodies could block a merger of this size; Stripe (a private company) may face financing difficulties.

Blackstone is investing another $100M in Anthropic (total stake $1B) via its retail-focused wealth products. Blackstone is successfully democratizing access to private AI unicorns for "wealthy mom and pop" investors, creating a new fee-generating growth engine distinct from traditional buyouts. LONG. Valuation mark-downs in private AI assets.