Welcome back! Dan DeFrancesco in NYC.
REMINDER: Tomorrow is Valentine's Day! But don't panic. Here's a list of 57 of the best gifts for that special someone.
On tap, we've got stories on how a little-known executive helped Microsoft orchestrate its deal with OpenAI, Tiger Global defends those startup bets, and everything you wanted to know about "The 4-hour Workweek" without having to read "The 4-hour Workweek."
But first, I wish I knew how to quit you.
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1. Just can't quit crypto.
A bunch of high-profile Wall Street investors just piled into a startup that pledges to fix a major issue in the crypto industry.
If that feels like a headline from 2021, you wouldn't be wrong. And while plenty of those bets blew up — the most spectacular of which was crypto exchange FTX — that hasn't stopped Wall Street. If there is one thing that finance firms love, it's being successful at something where others have failed miserably.
Which brings us to C3, a new crypto exchange whose investors are a who's who of some of the top trading and investment firms on the Street.
As Insider's April Joyner reported, some of the firms involved in C3's $6 million seed round include Two Sigma Ventures, Jane Street Capital, Hudson River Trading, Flow Traders, and GoldenTree Asset Management, along with crypto-focused subsidiaries of traditional players like Jump Crypto of Jump Trading Group and Cumberland of DRW.
While I've never been a crypto evangelist, I also didn't buy into the notion that crypto was going to go away completely after the FTX debacle. The incident, while obviously detrimental to the industry, also didn't feel like the death knell some made it to be.
That being said, it's interesting to see the caliber of names that have gotten onboard for C3.
Granted, this type of an investment is a rounding error for these firms, but their involvement shows the appetite for the space is still high. As Insider's Dakin Campbell previously wrote, FTX was, ironically, the favored trading place of plenty of "smart money."
In other news:
2. Everything you could possibly want to know about how Microsoft inked its now-famous deal with ChatGPT's OpenAI. Insider's Ashley Stewart has the ultimate inside story about how an under-the-radar executive was the mastermind behind the tie-up that has Microsoft going head-to-head with Google. Read it all here.
3. The Goldman shuffle. Yet another high-profile exec has departed the bank's consumer group, with Peeyush Nahar announcing to staff that he'll take on an advisory role, Bloomberg reports. Meanwhile, one of Goldman's top tech bankers is moving into asset management, per Bloomberg.
4. Tiger Global's startup investments aren't that bad, according to Tiger Global. The Financial Times has a report on Tiger's annual letter to investors that defends the way the firm calculates valuations for private companies in its portfolio. More on that here.
5. Walmart's nepo baby. Lukas Walton, grandson of the founder of Walmart, is the world's 68th-richest person, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Here's everything you need to know about the fiercely private heir to the Walmart empire. And while we're on nepo babies, here's a rundown of billionaire investor Nelson Peltz's 10 kids.
6. German exchange teams up with Google Cloud Platform. Deutsche Börse Group and GCP announced a 10-year tie-up that makes the cloud provider the trading venue's go-to cloud partner. For a breakdown of all the key partnerships between Wall Street and cloud partners, check out our running list of more than 30 deals.
7. This $150 million mansion in Connecticut that just went on the market is probably Ray Dalio's, but I can't say that for sure. The house, which sold for $120 million in 2014, is owned by a limited liability company that has a Bridgewater email address, Bloomberg reports. And a member of the Dalio Family Office recently filed paperwork for said company. But I'm sure it's just a massive coincidence. Check out the house that's definitely not Ray Dalio's here.
8. Who's next in line for the Disney throne after CEO Bob Iger, part II. It's déjà vu all over again. The executive recently announced a restructuring of the company that has some wondering who could succeed Iger. Here's the rundown.
9. She read "The 4-Hour Workweek" so you didn't have to. Here are 4 of the biggest takeaways from the book that can help you manage work and life. We just cut it down to the 3-hour workweek.
10. A former finance analyst at JPMorgan details why he quit his job to give himself a reset. Cheman Cheung left Wall Street after his father passed away to recover from a state of "mental chaos." Here's how he found his way again.
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.