Hollywood's love affair with private credit could be a recipe for disaster
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Today, we've got stories on deep cuts coming to Credit Suisse, Wall Street interns making bank, and a morning routine that might help you age backward.
But first, an actor in need.
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1. Private credit goes Hollywood.
A town that loves a good story has a leading role in the biggest one on Wall Street.
Everywhere you look, people seem to be talking about the booming private-credit market. Investment firms stepping up their lending game as big banks pull back has taken the spotlight, even if it's not always good news.
It's only natural that Hollywood would want in on the action. But this time it's not looking to create a movie or TV show about these so-called shadow lenders. Instead, it's going to them as a customer.
As Insider's Reed Alexander and Rebecca Ungarino report, media, entertainment, and sports industries have started leaning heavily on non-bank lenders. Private-credit assets under management in media grew to nearly $80 billion in mid-2022 from some $31 billion in 2018, according to an analysis by the data firm Preqin for Insider.
Reed and Rebecca spoke to executives at five private-credit funds about their approach to the space and the opportunities they see in everything from sports content to navigating appropriate use cases for AI.
Creators having access to the cash they need to develop and produce great content is a positive thing. So in that vein, private credit filling the gap left by banks reconsidering their lending decisions is great.
But it's also not hard to see how things could go sideways. Ratings agency Moody's has already raised the alarm, suggesting defaults among borrowers in private credit will rise.
If that's the case, one wonders how lenders will navigate defaults in an industry where the product isn't always tangible. If a commercial real-estate developer defaults, a lender can go after the land or the building. But if a screenwriter or a fledgling studio can't pay back their loan, what is a private-credit firm supposed to do?
I'm not suggesting these Hollywood-types deserve risk-free loans to pursue creative endeavors. But I think it's fair to say that industry isn't as cut and dried as others private credit might be lending to.
Whether the lenders took that into consideration, though, remains to be seen.
Here's more on the strategies of 5 firms investing credit in media, entertainment, and sports.
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7. Hey crypto, here comes Fidelity. The giant asset manager is reportedly preparing to file an application for a spot bitcoin ETF, according to The Block. Fidelity follows in the footsteps of BlackRock, which filed its own application earlier this month.
8. Silicon Valley sure loves doing drugs. High-profile executives in the space seem to have grown a strong appreciation for the use of psychedelics and the impact it has on their work, according to The Wall Street Journal. Let's take a ride.
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10. Here's the morning routine from an anti-aging expert. David Sinclair claims he has reversed his "biological age" by 10 years. Here's what he does every morning.
Curated by Dan DeFrancesco in New York. Feedback or tips? Email ddefrancesco@insider.com, tweet @dandefrancesco, or connect on LinkedIn. Edited by Jeffrey Cane (tweet @jeffrey_cane) in New York and Hallam Bullock (tweet @hallam_bullock) in London.