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Private credit is the crisis everyone's watching, but the real story -- and the one no one has been focused on -- is what private equity is doing behind the scenes.

In Part 1 of our 3-part series, Kristen and Jen break down the $30 billion leveraged buyout of Caesars by Apollo and TPG, the deal that became the blueprint for what we now call "creditor-on-creditor violence" and flipped everything everyone thought they knew about the relationship between debt and equity investors on its head.

This also happens to be the ultimate Private Equity & LBO deep dive as we start with the basics: what an LBO actually is, how it works, why private equity firms started to do club deals back in 2006/7 (hint...size) and how capital structures work at a high level.

From there, Jen and Kristen walk through the actual structure of the Caesars deal — $6B in equity from Apollo, TPG, and 30+ co-investors (everyone from Goldman Sachs to the Michael J. Fox Foundation to Bob Kraft), $7B in bank loans, $6B in bridge-to-high-yield bonds, and $6.5B in commercial mortgage-backed securities sitting at the PropCo level. They explain what an OpCo/PropCo mean in laymen's terms, why it let Apollo juice leverage, why club deals fell out of favor in favor of co-invest structures, and how today's mega-LBOs (Electronic Arts, the Ellison family's Warner Bros. Discovery play) stack up against what was historic in 2007.

This series is based on The Caesars Palace Coup by Sujeet Indap and Max Frumes — not sponsored, just genuinely one of the best case studies out there on LBOs and distressed debt investing. 

Stay tuned for Part 2, where Jen and Kristen get into everything that went wrong, the asset-transfer shenanigans, and the birth of creditor-on-creditor violence and how Britney Spears was the linchpin that kept it all together...until it all unraveled with the biggest names in investing, Apaloosa, Eliott, Oak Tree, Oak Hill, Paulson and more got in the ring. 

In Part 3, we sit down with Sujeet Indap of the Financial Times to talk about what the Caesars deal means for the private credit market today, and what exactly is going on with Caesars who is back in the news with Carl Icahn and billionaire Tilman Fertitta out with competing offers.

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Buckle up, because this week we're sitting down with Neha Champaneria Markle, who runs the Private Equity Solutions group at Morgan Stanley Investment Management.

Neha walks us through the entire private equity landscape and answers the questions you've been dying to ask an insider including: 

- Is "AI is going to destroy software and therefore private equity"? 
- Why are fundraising cycles getting longer?
- What does vintage year really tell you about a fund's performance? 
- What's actually a "good" DPI, IRR, and TVPI
- Why does every fund somehow claim to be top quartile? 

She also pulls back the curtain on subscription credit lines and how GPs use them to juice early IRRs, gives us a definition of "fund of funds" and "co-investment" that actually makes sense, and settles the score on whether PE investing is really just "volatility laundering".

As the walls around private equity are coming down, it’s important to understand which sectors are secretly crushing it, how managers actually get selected, the fee structures, and what the "democratization of private markets" really means for returns going forward.

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Wealthfront.com/wss. This is a paid endorsement for Wealthfront. May not reflect others’ experiences. Similar outcomes not guaranteed. Wealthfront Brokerage is not a bank. Rate subject to change. Promo terms apply. If eligible for the boosted rate of 4.15% offered in connection with this promo, the boosted rate is also subject to change if base rate decreases during the 3 month promo period.The Cash Account, which is not a deposit account, is offered by Wealthfront Brokerage LLC ("Wealthfront Brokerage"), Member FINRA/SIPC. Wealthfront Brokerage is not a bank. The Annual Percentage Yield ("APY") on cash deposits as of 11/7/25, is representative, requires no minimum, and may change at any time. The APY reflects the weighted average of deposit balances at participating Program Banks, which are not allocated equally. Wealthfront Brokerage sweeps cash balances to Program Banks, where they earn the variable APY. Sources HERE. 

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Everyone's been freaking out about oil and stocks, but the scariest thing this past week actually happened in bonds, and almost nobody was talking about it.

Last week the US Treasury held three auctions that were utter disasters, with dealer takedown more than double its 12-month average — worse than the tariff panic of April 2025. We get into what that means and why it matters.

Then we get into the viral Fortune Magazine article claiming the US Treasury declared the federal government insolvent. It did not... the numbers they used aren't wrong — but the way they used them is, and we explain why you simply cannot apply corporate accounting rules to a sovereign government that prints its own currency and has a military. That said, we're not letting Washington off the hook. The fiscal picture is broken and we get into why.

We wrap up with some of the wildest proposals circulating right now for how to fix the US debt problem — including one from self-proclaimed Bond King Jeffrey Gundlach that we're giving a hard pass. If you want the stuff that actually moves markets explained by people who used to sit on the desk, this is the episode.

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Wealthfront.com/wss. This is a paid endorsement for Wealthfront. May not reflect others’ experiences. Similar outcomes not guaranteed. Wealthfront Brokerage is not a bank. Rate subject to change. Promo terms apply. If eligible for the boosted rate of 4.15% offered in connection with this promo, the boosted rate is also subject to change if base rate decreases during the 3 month promo period.The Cash Account, which is not a deposit account, is offered by Wealthfront Brokerage LLC ("Wealthfront Brokerage"), Member FINRA/SIPC. Wealthfront Brokerage is not a bank. The Annual Percentage Yield ("APY") on cash deposits as of 11/7/25, is representative, requires no minimum, and may change at any time. The APY reflects the weighted average of deposit balances at participating Program Banks, which are not allocated equally. Wealthfront Brokerage sweeps cash balances to Program Banks, where they earn the variable APY. Sources HERE. 

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Private credit is all over the headlines — and all over your social media feed. Apollo just gated redemptions, Moody's stripped KKR's credit fund of its investment grade status, and Bill Maher is talking about it on late night TV. But what's actually going on beneath the panic? In this episode, we break down the alphabet soup of fund structures — publicly traded BDCs, private BDCs, interval funds — and explain why the vehicle you're invested in might matter just as much as what's inside it. What happens when you want your money back and the fund says no? And why are some managers bending over backward to meet redemptions while others are slamming the gate shut?

Then we dig into a question most people aren't asking: if stress is building in credit markets, who actually stands to benefit? We sit down with Fabian Chrobog, CIO and co-founder of NorthWall Capital, who has spent over two decades investing through crises from the GFC to European sovereign debt and beyond. He walks us through the difference between distressed investing, special situations, and what he calls "credit opportunities" — and why the rebranding isn't just cosmetic. What does it look like to run toward the fire when everyone else is heading for the exits, and why might the best opportunities take years to show up?

From the surprising world of lending against law firm case portfolios to the real reason "the distressed cycle is coming" has been the most overpromised trade of the last fifteen years, this conversation will change how you think about risk, liquidity, and where the smart money is actually going. Whether you're a retail investor trying to understand what your BDC actually is, or you just want to know why Wall Street keeps reinventing the same product with a new name — this one's for you.

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Wealthfront.com/wss. This is a paid endorsement for Wealthfront. May not reflect others’ experiences. Similar outcomes not guaranteed. Wealthfront Brokerage is not a bank. Rate subject to change. Promo terms apply. If eligible for the boosted rate of 4.15% offered in connection with this promo, the boosted rate is also subject to change if base rate decreases during the 3 month promo period.The Cash Account, which is not a deposit account, is offered by Wealthfront Brokerage LLC ("Wealthfront Brokerage"), Member FINRA/SIPC. Wealthfront Brokerage is not a bank. The Annual Percentage Yield ("APY") on cash deposits as of 11/7/25, is representative, requires no minimum, and may change at any time. The APY reflects the weighted average of deposit balances at participating Program Banks, which are not allocated equally. Wealthfront Brokerage sweeps cash balances to Program Banks, where they earn the variable APY. Sources HERE. 

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If you read the headlines about Private Credit, it feels like we're on the verge of another Global Financial Crisis. So, are we?  
In this Private Credit "state of the union" episode, we break down the structural differences between today's private credit market and the pre-GFC banking system, why the "private" in private credit makes it so hard to know how deep the problems actually go, and whether the knock-on effects to pensions, banks, and public markets could make this everyone's problem even if most Americans don't have direct exposure.
We dig into the Blue Owl gating, redemption and markdown headlines at Blackstone and Blackrock, and what Boaz Weinstein's activist bid tells us about where these portfolios are actually worth. What's more, we ask whether the push to put private credit into 401(k)s and retail channels is democratizing wealth creation or backfilling institutional demand that's dried up. Plus: the "SaaSpocalypse" thesis, why Tuesday's record $66 billion day in IG bond issuance may be telling a very different story than private credit headlines, and more!

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Wealthfront.com/wss. This is a paid endorsement for Wealthfront. May not reflect others’ experiences. Similar outcomes not guaranteed. Wealthfront Brokerage is not a bank. Rate subject to change. Promo terms apply. If eligible for the boosted rate of 4.15% offered in connection with this promo, the boosted rate is also subject to change if base rate decreases during the 3 month promo period.The Cash Account, which is not a deposit account, is offered by Wealthfront Brokerage LLC ("Wealthfront Brokerage"), Member FINRA/SIPC. Wealthfront Brokerage is not a bank. The Annual Percentage Yield ("APY") on cash deposits as of 11/7/25, is representative, requires no minimum, and may change at any time. The APY reflects the weighted average of deposit balances at participating Program Banks, which are not allocated equally. Wealthfront Brokerage sweeps cash balances to Program Banks, where they earn the variable APY. Sources HERE. 

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In this episode, we sit down with Kate Baumann, Head of Investor Relations at Empyrean Capital Partners (a $3 billion event-driven, multi-strategy hedge fund), LIVE from iConnections in Miami. 

Here's the thing nobody tells you: the amount of money a hedge fund manages — its AUM — is the single biggest driver of how much everyone at that fund gets paid. The 2% management fee is what funds the operation, allows traders to generate good returns (alpha) which then can pay top talent, and creates the flywheel that attracts more capital and better talent. 

Kate explains exactly how that fundraising engine works, from identifying which allocators (pensions, endowments, sovereign wealth funds) are the right fit, to running competitive analysis against peer funds, to crafting the narrative that gets an investment committee to say yes. She also gets into the five pillars of Empyrean's event-driven strategy, transactional, structural, stress/distressed, and legal/regulatory, and why all five are firing right now.

She also gets real about what it takes to be successful. This isn't IR at a corporate .Kate talks about what it takes to raise money, to build the relationships, travel every other week, and why wining and dining (what may have worked in the 1990s.) doesn't work now.

Whether you're thinking about a career in investor relations, trying to understand how hedge funds actually raise capital, or just want to know what happens behind the scenes at these huge hedge fund conferences, this one's for you. Kate shares her path from JP Morgan's private bank during the financial crisis to running IR at a multi-billion dollar fund, her advice for young people breaking in, and why the best IR professionals think like allocators, talk like PMs, and build relationships that compound over decades — not transactions. 

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Wealthfront.com/wss. This is a paid endorsement for Wealthfront. May not reflect others’ experiences. Similar outcomes not guaranteed. Wealthfront Brokerage is not a bank. Rate subject to change. Promo terms apply. If eligible for the boosted rate of 4.15% offered in connection with this promo, the boosted rate is also subject to change if base rate decreases during the 3 month promo period.The Cash Account, which is not a deposit account, is offered by Wealthfront Brokerage LLC ("Wealthfront Brokerage"), Member FINRA/SIPC. Wealthfront Brokerage is not a bank. The Annual Percentage Yield ("APY") on cash deposits as of 11/7/25, is representative, requires no minimum, and may change at any time. The APY reflects the weighted average of deposit balances at participating Program Banks, which are not allocated equally. Wealthfront Brokerage sweeps cash balances to Program Banks, where they earn the variable APY. Sources HERE. 

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We're back for the ninth installment of He Said She Said, our regular crossover series with Dan Nathan and Guy Adami of CNBC's Fast Money. We recorded just after the open Friday morning, breaking down a February jobs report that caught many off guard  -- 92,000 jobs lost, massive downward revisions to prior months, and mounting evidence of an organic economic slowdown that's been building for over a year, well before AI has meaningfully reshaped the labor force.

We dive into the Paramount-Warner Brothers mega-deal, what amounts to the largest leveraged buyout in history led by the Ellison family with sovereign wealth fund backing and clear echoes of Elon Musk's Twitter acquisition playbook. Kristen walks through the deal mechanics and the real meaning behind "synergies" -- Wall Street's favorite euphemism for mass layoffs -- while the group debates the timeline for AI-driven workforce displacement across sectors from tech to banking.

Jen brings the macro picture into sharp focus, drawing parallels to 2008 as oil prices spike amid escalating geopolitical tensions, war insurance gets pulled from shipping vessels, and the bond market sends confusing signals about inflation and flight-to-quality dynamics. The conversation rounds out with a look at emerging cracks in private credit markets -- including cases of double-pledged collateral fraud coming to light -- and what a persistently elevated VIX alongside modest equity drawdowns might be telling us about complacency lurking beneath the surface.

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Wealthfront.com/wss. This is a paid endorsement for Wealthfront. May not reflect others’ experiences. Similar outcomes not guaranteed. Wealthfront Brokerage is not a bank. Rate subject to change. Promo terms apply. If eligible for the boosted rate of 4.15% offered in connection with this promo, the boosted rate is also subject to change if base rate decreases during the 3 month promo period.The Cash Account, which is not a deposit account, is offered by Wealthfront Brokerage LLC ("Wealthfront Brokerage"), Member FINRA/SIPC. Wealthfront Brokerage is not a bank. The Annual Percentage Yield ("APY") on cash deposits as of 11/7/25, is representative, requires no minimum, and may change at any time. The APY reflects the weighted average of deposit balances at participating Program Banks, which are not allocated equally. Wealthfront Brokerage sweeps cash balances to Program Banks, where they earn the variable APY. Sources HERE. 

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In this special emergency episode of The Wall Street Skinny, we sat down with Andreas Laskaratos, CEO of AB Commodities Group, a global oil and gas shipping and trading firm with operations spanning Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Andreas is one of the few people in the world who operates across both the physical and financial sides of the commodities complex, and he's been a longtime friend of the show.

With Iran blockading the Strait of Hormuz, shipping rates spiking 5x overnight, and 20% of global oil flow suddenly in question, there was no one we wanted to talk to more. Andreas walks us through the mechanics of what's actually happening when it comes to oil, natural gas, and the broader commodities complex.

We cover everything from the basics (WTI vs. Brent, what actually comes out of a barrel of crude, why it costs Saudi Arabia $5 to extract oil and the U.S. $50) to the trades being put on right now, why China is likely hurting the most, and what the 45-day timeline to $150 oil actually looks like. Andreas also had his war insurance canceled in real time while we were recording, which pretty much tells you everything you need to know about where things stand.

Whether you work in finance, energy, or you're just trying to understand why your gas prices look the way they do this is the best crash course you'll get in commodities in under an hour.

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Wealthfront.com/wss. This is a paid endorsement for Wealthfront. May not reflect others’ experiences. Similar outcomes not guaranteed. Wealthfront Brokerage is not a bank. Rate subject to change. Promo terms apply. If eligible for the boosted rate of 4.15% offered in connection with this promo, the boosted rate is also subject to change if base rate decreases during the 3 month promo period.The Cash Account, which is not a deposit account, is offered by Wealthfront Brokerage LLC ("Wealthfront Brokerage"), Member FINRA/SIPC. Wealthfront Brokerage is not a bank. The Annual Percentage Yield ("APY") on cash deposits as of 11/7/25, is representative, requires no minimum, and may change at any time. The APY reflects the weighted average of deposit balances at participating Program Banks, which are not allocated equally. Wealthfront Brokerage sweeps cash balances to Program Banks, where they earn the variable APY. Sources HERE. 

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We sat down with Ron Biscardi, the CEO and co-founder of iConnections, live at Global Alts Miami to get the skinny on what's happening with fund managers and allocators in real time. Last year, private credit was the undisputed darling of investment strategies. Now, on the heels of Blue Owl headlines and concerns about cracks within the private credit markets, headlines seem to suggest a tough road ahead.   

But reality is far more nuanced. Ron synthesized both emotional reactions and hard data from investors responding to new perceived stresses in the sector in ways that might surprise you.  We also learn where smart money is pivoting, where it remains steadfast, which asset classes and investment strategies stand poised to benefit, and how allocators are positioning for highly volatile markets this year. 

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Wealthfront.com/wss. This is a paid endorsement for Wealthfront. May not reflect others’ experiences. Similar outcomes not guaranteed. Wealthfront Brokerage is not a bank. Rate subject to change. Promo terms apply. If eligible for the boosted rate of 4.15% offered in connection with this promo, the boosted rate is also subject to change if base rate decreases during the 3 month promo period.The Cash Account, which is not a deposit account, is offered by Wealthfront Brokerage LLC ("Wealthfront Brokerage"), Member FINRA/SIPC. Wealthfront Brokerage is not a bank. The Annual Percentage Yield ("APY") on cash deposits as of 11/7/25, is representative, requires no minimum, and may change at any time. The APY reflects the weighted average of deposit balances at participating Program Banks, which are not allocated equally. Wealthfront Brokerage sweeps cash balances to Program Banks, where they earn the variable APY. Sources HERE. 

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Kristen and Jen tackle two major stories in this double emergency episode. First, Kristen breaks down latest update in the Warner Bros saga — how Paramount outbid Netflix with a $31/share offer, why Netflix walked away, and what the deal means financially. They cover the cursed history of Warner Bros. M&A deals, the staggering leverage Paramount is taking on (potentially the largest LBO ever), the accretion/dilution math that made this a non-starter for Netflix, and why it's an existential move for Paramount. They also get into the ticking fee structure, the $7 billion breakup fee, and why so many people are nervous about this outcome.

Jen then covers the weekend's military action in the Middle East and how it's hitting markets on Monday. She walks through the relatively muted equity reaction, the split between defense stocks and travel names, the divergence between WTI and Brent crude, and why treasuries initially rallied before selling off. The yield curve is bare flattening as the market prices out near-term Fed cuts, since sustained oil price shocks would feed through to broader inflation beyond just energy. Gold is catching a bid as the classic risk-off trade, while Europe looks more vulnerable than the US to prolonged disruption given its energy dependence.

Coming later this week: episodes recorded at the I Connections conference, including an Investor Relations 101 conversation and a look at where allocators are directing capital this year, with equity long/short and macro funds gaining ground over last year's private credit buzz.

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Wealthfront.com/wss. This is a paid endorsement for Wealthfront. May not reflect others’ experiences. Similar outcomes not guaranteed. Wealthfront Brokerage is not a bank. Rate subject to change. Promo terms apply. If eligible for the boosted rate of 4.15% offered in connection with this promo, the boosted rate is also subject to change if base rate decreases during the 3 month promo period.The Cash Account, which is not a deposit account, is offered by Wealthfront Brokerage LLC ("Wealthfront Brokerage"), Member FINRA/SIPC. Wealthfront Brokerage is not a bank. The Annual Percentage Yield ("APY") on cash deposits as of 11/7/25, is representative, requires no minimum, and may change at any time. The APY reflects the weighted average of deposit balances at participating Program Banks, which are not allocated equally. Wealthfront Brokerage sweeps cash balances to Program Banks, where they earn the variable APY. Sources HERE. 

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It's a bittersweet day at The Wall Street Skinny, where we are recapping the SEASON FINALE!! While this one is lighter on finance than most episodes this season, we still dig into the mechanics of closing out a massive short position without spooking the tape. We also break down how hedge fund fees actually work — the industry-standard "two and twenty" structure where managers earn a 2% management fee on assets under management plus 20% of profits — and use that framework to reverse-engineer what this three-person fund operating out of a hotel room should have actually earned versus what got paid out. The numbers don't quite add up, and we have thoughts.

This finale also takes a hard pivot into politics, power brokering, and some very dark territory for one of our favorite characters. We trace every reference and detail — from Walt Whitman to the Talented Mr. Ripley, George Orwell to Henry VIII — and debate what the show is setting up for its next chapter. Character arcs that have been building all season reach their breaking points, alliances shatter in stunning ways, and the episode forces us to ask whether people are truly capable of change or destined to become the very thing they fought against.

We share our honest reactions to what worked and what left us frustrated, revisit our season-long theories one final time, and give our last bullish and bearish calls of the season. Thank you to every single listener who joined us on this ride — your feedback, theories, and insights made this our favorite recording day of the week. See you next season.

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Wealthfront.com/wss. This is a paid endorsement for Wealthfront. May not reflect others’ experiences. Similar outcomes not guaranteed. Wealthfront Brokerage is not a bank. Rate subject to change. Promo terms apply. If eligible for the boosted rate of 4.15% offered in connection with this promo, the boosted rate is also subject to change if base rate decreases during the 3 month promo period.The Cash Account, which is not a deposit account, is offered by Wealthfront Brokerage LLC ("Wealthfront Brokerage"), Member FINRA/SIPC. Wealthfront Brokerage is not a bank. The Annual Percentage Yield ("APY") on cash deposits as of 11/7/25, is representative, requires no minimum, and may change at any time. The APY reflects the weighted average of deposit balances at participating Program Banks, which are not allocated equally. Wealthfront Brokerage sweeps cash balances to Program Banks, where they earn the variable APY. Sources HERE.