The magnificent card mask blows off to begin: it happened in the end. The relationship between Donald Trump and Elon Musk spectacularly collapsed on Thursday. After Musk attacked Trump’s “big beautiful bill” and cut his taxes as “nasty hatred,” Trump countered that Musk was “crazy.” The founder of Tesla, who hinted at the president, had a connection with Jeffrey Epstein. Trump responded by threatening to cancel Musk’s government contract. Musk has since retweeted more Epstein-related content, retweeting anyone seeking presidential bluff each.
War of Talents: JPMorgan Chase told the next alumni that if they accept future job offers elsewhere within 18 months of launching the analyst program they will be fired.
And some muddy stuff: Former SoftBank executive Rajeev Misra described financier Lex Greensill as “slippery and tends to lie.”
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In today’s newsletter:
“Mossad for Hire” becomes a Builder.ai creditor
Tote bag, snow patrol, private equity
Meet Akio Toyoda, Toyota Scion, who drives race cars
Secret Spy Agency Hired by Builder.ai
The collapse of Builder.ai has been in an interesting direction.
Last month, DD brought the story of how companies backed by Microsoft, SoftBank and Qatar Investment Authority are filing for bankruptcy, sparking claims that they inflated revenues.
It was revealed that Builder.ai hired a private spy agency after reporting on FT.
At the time of the collapse, artificial intelligence startups were paying for a Tel Aviv-based slave strategy, which was described by the “London” era as a “mossad for employment.”
According to DD’s Robert Smith, Alexandra Heal and Amelia Pollard, the group was brought to the book after FT revealed that founder Sachin Dev Duggal was named in an Indian Crime Inspection.
Let’s take a step back.
Last year, FT outlined in a series of stories that Duggal, who held the title of “Chief Wizard” in the company, was plagued by legal disputes in connection with a well-known criminal investigation. (Duggal denies fraud in all cases.)
Builder.ai collapsed last month, and the list of creditors contains three interesting names. It includes Shibumi and Quinn Emanuel, one of the world’s most feared litigation law firms, and Sitrick Group, a PR company specializing in Crisis Communications.
(A former senior builder employee said, “Working with international professional advisors is completely normal practice for a billion-dollar technology company operating in multiple jurisdictions.”
Quinn Emanuel wrote to FT last year on behalf of Builder.ai and Duggal. It allegedly infringed a potential violation of confidence in the course of reporting papers on customer relationships in high-tech companies.
Quinn Emanuel is not bothered. Emails and business cards from partners are often accompanied by straplines declaring “the world’s most feared law firm.”
Meanwhile, Mike Citrick, co-founder of the PR company of the same name, contacted the FT to raise concerns about the newspaper’s reporting process.
As for Shibuya, this is not the first time this has pop-up in FT Pink. As revealed in 2022 by FT’s Cynthia Omulchu and DD’s Robert Smith, the agency was involved in a well-known spy scandal.
It was founded by Safia Fenton, a former Mossad spy, Oligurri, an Israeli corporate spy expert.
The revelation concluded the busy week of DD Duo of Heal and Smith.
They reported on how Builder.AI can inflate some of its revenue using a broader method. Think of improperly booked discounts, small advance deposits, and seemingly circular transactions with major customers.
A lawyer for Builder.AI said the company did not misreport its income and its accounting methods are subject to multiple financial and commercial due diligence by the two Big 4 audit companies.
Live, laughter, leverage
The private equity executives gather at this week’s annual industry conference in Berlin, and were greeted with a tote bag with a prize called “Live Laugh Leverage.”
However, there was a discussion of leverage leverage as shopping investors navigated the three-year straight choppy market and difficult trading.
In general, SuperReturn’s message was that Europe is more focused as an attractive market thanks to US tariff-driven disruptions.
President Apollo Jim Zelter said he was in attendance for the first time as he announced plans for a $100 million deal in Germany, reported Ivan Levingston and Alexandra Heal of DDs.
Leaders such as Blackstone and CVC gave opinions on the evolution of private capital industries and their companies.
Thousands gathered, meetings spilled into a small wooden shed in a parking space, and the atmosphere of renting a table at a Greek restaurant across the main hotel was relatively restrained.
One topic on the agenda is how to force private equity towards other paths to sell your investments and get creative in generating cash for institutional investors due to the lack of IPOs.
In the evening, attendees headed out for drinks and dinner with party attendees at one event, serving a performance by rock band Snow Patrol.
Unfortunately, the real mountains they continue to face are their own dry flour, a backlog of selling deals that look like Mount Everest, growing 3.5 tonnes of backlog.
Toyota Angry Shareholder
It was intended to be a transaction that symbolized the progress made by Japan in corporate governance.
However, Toyota Industries stocks fell 12% after a $33 billion take private proposal backed by Chair and Toyota Family Scion’s Reeda.
Minority shareholders have accused the contract of underestimating auto parts suppliers.
The criticism of the deal comes when Akio’s rule over a vast empire of subsidiaries and suppliers also began to show signs of tension.
Some of his strongest supporters fear he will be surrounded by loyalists, and the dedicated followers surrounding him have instilled a sense of qualification for a company in which he owns only 0.18% stake.
Even Toyota’s famous silent shareholders have begun to raise dissent concerns that they would have never imagined before.
(Toyota has pointed out that its stock price has almost doubled over the past five years, and the company says it has “not been unfairly affected by Tomitasa’s impact.”
Read the complete magazine work of FT’s Kana Inagaki and David Keohane to learn more about the colorful Toyota and his lifelong ambitions to cater to his grandfather’s success.
Job movements
Uber has appointed Nikesh Arora, CEO of Palo Alto Networks, to its board of directors.
CVC hired Kate Thomas as a client and partner in the Product Solutions team and head of distribution in North America. She will be joining from Sixth Avenue, where she was the managing director.
Cybersecurity Venture Capital Fund CyberStarts has hired Dor Knafo as general partner and appointed Adam Aarons as operating partner. Knafo is the CEO of Axis Security, and Aaron was previously Okta’s Chief Revenue Officer.
Weil, Gotshal & Manges hired Tom Ara to lead entertainment, sports and media practices in private equity groups in the US. He joins from DLA Piper.
Smart Lead
The FT writes that it hopes that the New Hope Nicotine pouch will take off and Big Tobacco will provide a lifeline as it vaping demand levels.
Moneyball meets Sam Presty, the mastermind behind the Oklahoma City Thunder, who built one of the greatest teams in NBA history. And he did it without the cash of his rival, the Wall Street Journal writes.
Eat as if local Miami has become a hot city for private equity and hedge fund types. The FT’s Globetrotter team has put together a guide to five city quirky food and drink experiences that you’ll struggle to find elsewhere.
News Round Up
Owner’s owner rings new investors ahead of potential IPOs (FTs)
BlackRock’s LarryFink sounds alarm over US deficit rise (FT)
UK FintechWise switches main listing to New York (FT)
Trump Media is about to launch a “True Social Bitcoin ETF” (FT)
Citigroup Lays off 3,500 Technical Staff (FT) in China
Circle Internet Share will rise 150% on NYSE debut (FT)
Man Group orders to return Quants staff to the office 5 days a week (ft)
Kimberly Clark (FT) for spin-offs of Kleenex and other organizational products outside of us
Procter & Gamble cuts 7,000 jobs with cost-reducing drive (FT)
Due diligence was written by Arash Massoudi, Ivan Levingston, Ortenca Aliaj, Alexandra Heal, Robert Smith, James Fontanella-Khan, Sujeet Indap, Eric Platt, Antoine Gara, Amelia Polarard, Maria Heeter, Kaye Wiggins, Oliver Barnes and fr barnes John of London. Arjun Neil Alim in Hong Kong. Send feedback to due.diligence@ft.com
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