Michael de la Merced

Rewatching "The Incredibles" for the first time in a while is a reminder that the opening bits include an ongoing bit about denying insurance claims ... and it hits very weirdly these days.

“Dick was always by our side,” Henry Kravis of KKR, whom Beattie advised in the Nabisco takeover fight, told me. Kravis also mentioned this moving anecdote

Richard Beattie, Who Helped Pioneer Private Equity Takeovers, Dies at 86 A top Wall Street lawyer, he worked on some of the biggest corporate mergers in history, including KKR’s takeover of Nabisco in 1989. He also served in the Carter administration and in city government...

It's always a bit difficult but fascinating to write an obit, and the most recent one was especially informative: Dick Beattie, the NYC legal legend who helped pioneer leveraged buyouts and featured heavily in "Barbarians at the Gate"

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/11/b...

on.ft.com/4jB6PUs Top Paul Weiss lawyer defects from firm after its capitulation to Donald Trump

Does it feel like there are a lot of crypto physical attacks — ie, kidnappings, assaults, &c — these days? (Hard to escape that feeling with the latest arrests in NYC.)

@bwarner.bsky.social finds that we could be heading toward a record this year in today's DealBook www.nytimes.com/2025/05/28/b...

Barry Diller and the Twilight of the Hollywood Tell-All The juicy "Who Knew" reads like a last-of-the-Mohicans memoir for a business no longer defined by the big personalities and singular tastes of its iconoclasts.

Feels like this could be said of most memoirs these days, but yes, business moguls especially www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general...

In our old place, we caught a mouse and dropped it off at a park that was 10m away. Pretty sure it came back.

We caught it a second time, except we took it on the Tube for a 30m ride that crossed the Thames, took it to a small park and released it. A bird immediately swooped down and ate it.

The Coyotes of San Francisco

Terrific story — and a blast from my SF past. Haven't thought about the coyotes since we used to walk our (then-puppy) dog in Bernal Heights in the mid-2010s, and owners of small canines were hypervigilant about coyotes

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/19/u...

Ouch www.nytimes.com/2025/05/14/b...

Obviously, as a Filipino-American, seeing the first Asian/Filipino pope would have also been significant. Regardless, what a moment

As an American Catholic — with all the internal contradictions and emotional baggage that entails — it’s still kind of amazing to see an American pope

How Warren Buffett Changed the Way Investors Thought of Investing The idea of “value investing” had long existed. But no one did it as successfully or for as long as he did.

• And he taught generations of investors how to, well, invest

@laurenhirsch.bsky.social, Maureen Farrell and I dug into why Buffett mattered to so many for @nytimes.com

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/04/b...

• Value investing long predated Buffett. But no one had done it for as long, or nearly as successfully, as him
• Berkshire is truly a remarkably unique creation and wealth-generation machine
• Buffett transcended business fame for actual fame, and that made Wall Street, Washington pay him heed

Capitalists the world over are still reckoning with Warren Buffett finally announcing that he would seek to step down as Berkshire Hathaway's CEO.

But why was this so affecting — to both average investors and moguls like Bill Ackman and Jamie Dimon? 🧵

Warren Buffett Plans to Step Down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO by End of 2025 Mr. Buffett said at the annual shareholders’ meeting that he wanted to turn over the reins to Greg Abel at the end of the year. Earlier, he criticized Trump’s trade policies.

What's kept me busy today: Warren Buffett finally announcing that he plans to retire, by year end. Greg Abel will be his successor — and appeared shocked to hear Buffett's plans, announced in front of tens of thousands in Omaha

For @nytimes.com: www.nytimes.com/2025/05/03/b...

Des Moines resident to become Berkshire Hathaway CEO by end of year, Warren Buffett says Warren Buffett said Saturday he will step down by year’s end, paving the way for Des Moines man Greg Abel to take over the conglomerate.

Everything is local eu.amestrib.com/story/news/2...

Thrive Capital Creating Vehicle for Serial M&A The investor is raising money to start and build companies infused with artificial intelligence, then use them to buy more.

Read more in DealBook www.nytimes.com/2025/04/29/b...

Meet Thrive Holdings, which I'm told is seeking to raise at least $1 billion. It intends to incubate companies, infuse them with AI and use the cashflow to buy other companies. (Roll-ups, essentially.)

But as a permanent capital vehicle, it can own stakes in these companies "forever," I'm told.

Thrive Capital, Josh Kushner's VC firm, has long invested in AI companies like OpenAI. But now it's betting on a different kind of strategy: buying and building AI start-ups — largely in unsexy sectors like, um, IT.

Yes, others are trying to do that too. But Thrive is doing something else 🧵

Which Papal Candidate Is Which Guy From Conclave? We made a (holy) spirited effort.

This is the content I want, having just rewatched "Conclave" again www.vulture.com/article/conc...

I spoke with Ulukaya about how I haven't been able to buy Chobani since moving to the UK. (Unless I've missed it somewhere!)

I wrote about how this underscores Chobani's growth ambitions and a potential future attempt at an IPO.

But another interesting thing that Ulukaya spoke about was Chobani's commitment to hiring refugees, even in this moment.

“We cannot operate any other way,” he said. “To me, anybody is welcome.”

Chobani Plans to Invest Over $1 Billion in New N.Y. Factory The company, which has branched out from Greek-style yogurt, will invest more than $1 billion in the plant in the city of Rome.

Ulukaya said the company will of course follow whatever the law says. But as of now, he told me, there has been no change that requires Chobani to change course.

Anyway, read more on all of this on DealBook: www.nytimes.com/2025/04/22/b...

I wrote about how this underscores Chobani's growth ambitions and a potential future attempt at an IPO.

But another interesting thing that Ulukaya spoke about was Chobani's commitment to hiring refugees, even in this moment.

“We cannot operate any other way,” he said. “To me, anybody is welcome.”

New York State offered nearly $100 million in development grants and tax credits. The math, Gov. Kathy Hochul told me, works out, especially since the package is dependent on Chobani meeting certain milestones:

"That to me is worth the investment to get a $1 billion growth investment," she said

First, the numbers:

• Net sales last year rose 17 percent, to $2.96 billion
• Adjusted Ebitda rose 26 percent, to $509 million

It's already planning to spend $500mn to expand an Idaho plant. But Hamdi Ulukaya, Chobani's CEO, says the company needs more capacity.

ICYMI: I got a jump on Chobani announcing that it plans to spend more than $1bn on a huge new factory in Rome, NY, in what it says will the largest dairy products plant in the nation.

Why? The company insists it expects to keep growing hugely. 🧵

Jesus, it's been a while, longer than I could have ever dreamed of. Also, perhaps a sign that I've been here so long I forgot when my work anniversary was

Navy SEAL. Harvard Doctor. NASA Astronaut. Don’t Tell Mom About This Overachiever. Jonny Kim’s achievements at age 41 have been a global source of inspiration—and mild dismay; ‘Every Asian kid’s worst nightmare.’

Our pain is real. (But seriously, Jonny Kim's résumé is as gold-plated as it gets.)

www.wsj.com/lifestyle/jo...

Rippling says Keith O'Brien, the payroll employee whom it accuses of spying for archrival Deel, has confessed in Irish court — and that his handler was Deel cofounder and CEO Alex Bouaziz.

O'Brien says he was paid thousands, with codewords straight from a spy novel. More TK shortly