Wealth Management News & Insights
They Built the Hottest Firm on Wall Street – Now They Have to Save It, Target Is Making Big Changes to Win Back Customers, Starting Your Own Business Is All the Rage Again
Primary Sources
- To My Fellow Berkshire Shareholders: Warren Buffett is arguably the greatest investor of all time, with generations benefiting from his investment acumen. He has also been a remarkable CEO, executing his vision of building a great insurance business since the acquisition of National Indemnity in 1967, and deploying the float to make successful investments across major sectors of the economy, concentrating in the U.S. [Berkshire Hathaway]
Financial Markets
- Kalshi and Polymarket Are Each Eyeing Roughly $20 Billion Valuations: Prediction market rivals are speaking to investors about roughly doubling their previous valuations. [WSJ]
- They Built the Hottest Firm on Wall Street – Now They Have to Save It: Doug Ostrover and Marc Lipschultz made Blue Owl a private-credit behemoth with bets on software, AI and individual investors. It is starting to show cracks. [WSJ]
- BlackRock Sticks to Redemption Minimum on Credit Fund, Sends Shares Lower: The fund said it would not buy back more than 5% from investors; facing a similar situation, rival Blackstone took the opposite stance. [WSJ]
- BlackRock Slashed Private Loan Value From 100 to Zero: BlackRock Inc. slashes the value of a private loan to zero at the end of 2025, just three months after assessing it at 100 cents on the dollar, marking the second sudden wipeout to recently hits its private credit division. [Bloomberg]
- Nvidia Swears Off an Earnings Crutch, Putting Pressure on Other Tech Companies: AI chip giant takes positive step in how it reports stock-based compensation. [WSJ]
- Meta Rakes It In, Yet Still Borrows Billions for AI: The company reports abundant free cash flow, but that skips big cash costs tied to employees’ compensation. [WSJ]
- U.S. Loses 92,000 Jobs in Widespread and Unexpected Downturn: Healthcare strike weighed on jobs count; crucial moment on interest rates for the Fed. [WSJ]
70% of S&P 500 companies discussed AI on their quarterly earnings call. 54% of S&P 500 discussed how AI is impacting productivity.
Financial Planning
- 5 Tax Scams to Watch for This Filing Season: High-pressure tactics, official-sounding messages and other tricks are potentially bedeviling taxpayers. [WSJ]
Business Strategy
- Restaurant Reservation Wars Heat Up As DoorDash Enters The Arena With Resy, OpenTable: The battle to bring restaurant reservations online has been brewing for more than a decade between Resy and OpenTable. [CNBC]
- All the Ways Netflix Actually Won Even Though It Lost Warner: King of streaming preserves its business model, while Paramount will have to deal with a massive debt load. [WSJ]
- Target Is Making Big Changes To Win Back Customers – Here’s What Shoppers Can Expect To See: Target is overhauling some of its lagging categories, such as home decor, as it tries to win back both shoppers and investors. [CNBC]
- Small Cities Are A Big Part of the O’Hare Expansion That Alarmed the FAA: The airport’s two largest carriers are planning double-digit increases in their schedules this summer, with many of the new flights going to smaller markets. [Crain’s Chicago]
Life & Work
- Starting Your Own Business Is All the Rage Again: The threats and opportunities presented by artificial intelligence are driving people to bet on themselves. [WSJ]
- A Short Guide To Email Opening Lines: “I hope you are well” and other classics. [Economist]
- Is This Treadmill Walking Trend Good for Your Fitness?: Here’s what to know about the 12-3-30 workout. [NYT]
- The New Miami Gold Rush: The ultrawealthy are vying for a limited number of exclusive properties on the islands and shorelines of South Florida. [NYT]
- Waymo Eyes Chicago For Robotaxi Rollout: The Mountain View, Calif.-based company is deploying a small fleet of human-driven vehicles to map streets and gather other data in preparation for one day deploying robotaxis in the city. [Crain’s Chicago]
- MacBook Neo and iPhone 17e First Impressions: The Return of Cheap and Cheerful: Apple is typically known for its pricey, premium products. Its latest releases have a different vibe. [WSJ]