Ticketing the StubHub TicketMan

Barchart reported:

Baker isn’t only the CEO of StubHub. He’s also the co-manager of a ticket-focused investment fund that buys tickets in bulk and resells them through platforms like StubHub. According to lawmakers, that means institutional ticket resellers are getting a huge advantage and further inflating the costs of an industry that already feels like it’s stacked against ordinary fans.

Stubhub disclosed related party transactions in December 2025: 

Andro Capital (“Andro”) is a seller on the Company’s platform and, in the normal course of business, has engaged the Company to list, price and fulfill its tickets on its behalf. The Company’s CEO has an ownership stake in both the Company and Andro. The Company generated fee revenue from tickets sold by Andro of zero during the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024 and $0.1 million during the year ended December 31, 2023. As of December 31, 2025 and 2024, $0.1 million was due to Andro in proceeds related to tickets it had sold on the Company’s platform. 

On July 17, 2024, the Company entered into a program agreement (as amended or supplemented from time to time, the “Program Agreement”) with Colloquy Capital LLC (“Colloquy”), an affiliate of Andro. Under the terms of the Program Agreement, the Company refers certain sellers to Colloquy for the opportunity to enter into separate financing arrangements with Colloquy. Under such arrangements, it is anticipated that Colloquy may provide short-term financing to sellers based on those sellers’ existing and/or future expected proceeds generated through ticket sales on the Company's platform. Pursuant to each seller’s agreement with Colloquy, the Company will disburse to Colloquy a percentage of the seller’s proceeds as agreed upon as consideration for the financing provided by Colloquy to the relevant seller. No fees are payable under this agreement by the Company or Colloquy. As of December 31, 2025 and 2024, the Program Agreement resulted in Colloquy obtaining a security interest of $7.9 million and $0.1 million in the seller's proceeds related to tickets sold on the Company's platform, respectively. On March 20, 2025, the Company entered into a separate services agreement with Colloquy, pursuant to which the Company helps facilitate the sale and servicing of tickets owned by Colloquy in return for a fee based on a percentage of revenue collected for the sale of those tickets. Under both agreements with Colloquy, as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, $0.8 million and $0.1 million, respectively, was due to Colloquy in proceeds, related to tickets sold under the services agreement as well as the Company's disbursement of the seller's proceeds under the Program Agreement. The Company generated $3.2 million during the year ended December 31, 2025 and zero during the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023 in fees associated with the services agreement.

Conflicts of interest are business du jour so it should be no surprise that Stubhub's CEO Eric Baker found multiple ways of cashing in.  If private equity underwriters can be on all sides of a deal, so can Mr. Baker, a former Bain Capital staffer.  

Baker was ably assisted by Declaration Partners, the family office of Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein.  

In early 2020:

Declaration Partners formed a private equity syndication fund, Declaration Partners Opportunity II. All capital commitments were fully funded at closing and were used by Declaration to participate in a minority investment in Viagogo’s acquisition of StubHub

Declaration cashed out of StubHub after the IPO.  I'm sure Mr. Rubenstein was well aware of Mr. Baker's blatant conflicts of interest and possibly admired his ability to squeeze more ka-ching out of every transaction.  

Can anyone say pre-emptive pardon for this Baker boy?  Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.  

Government of, by and for the TechGod

Western TechGods inhabit a unique position according to a Silicon Valley journalist.   

....outlining the connections between these men (and it is all men) and the origins of their often deeply weird beliefs, many of which view everyone outside their circle or opposed to their agenda as expendable.

They are the landed white men of our time and happen to have billions, if not trillions in wealth.   A paralyzed and conflicted political system already ceded power to private equity underwriters (PEU) over the last two decades.  It is wholly incapable of dealing with TechGods given their wanton illegal business models (intellectual property theft), casting aside of drug laws (ketamine) and ability to provide overwhelming financial sponsorship for candidates.

TechGods noticed and copied the PEU playbook with searing and audacious adaptations.  They were ably coached by fellow TechGod J.D. Vance, albeit a junior version in Silicon Valley as well as the White House.

These former libertarians make huge bank off Uncle Sam's wallet and believe they can manage a country better than elected officials or paid bureaucrats.  They occupy multiple full time jobs, skating in and out of CEO, board, advisory and other ownership roles.  

Under management theory they have the skill of Chris Farley on ice skates, yet they own the rink, the building, the block and the city.  They desire no feedback on their performance as they have no peers.  

TechGods are superior in every way and they believe they have to design the future, even if it means taking away rights and turning citizens into rats pressing a bar for a piece of cheese or to avoid an electric shock.  

I removed a reference to TechGods giving payback to jocks and the high school "in crowd" as part of Palantir CEO Alex Karp's disdain of sales people.  What did not fit yesterday finds a home today in The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy.  

My wise friend noted:

Every time a pension fund buys a stock in an ETF that forces valuations higher, benefiting each of the fellows in the article.  That  ever increasing wealth gives them the fuel to light democracy as we know it.  They use the market mechanism to destroy the public and enhance their security.

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one and the average citizen hates the whole stinking lot.

TechGod Derides Sales Unit

Palantir's Alex Karp attacked his own salespeople yet again in "another case of Palantir ignoring the norms of growing a business."  Long ago Palantir ignored the first rule of business, hiring a sane chief executive.  

Karp's language is so pristinely structured that customers want his products without salespeople. He mostly sells to Uncle Sam and corporate chiefs fearful of missing out on the AI tech imperative.  

Panic can go both ways.  Sales in, sales out (like AI's garbage in, garbage out).

TechGods hate feedback from customers. which is why they structure things so as not to receive it.  But they dislike it even more from underlings.  Take this recent Glassdoor review of Palantir:

Extensive track history of not paying earned sales commission. Karp is open and very public with is disdain for sales. This is felt everyday and the BU is treated as 2nd class citizen. 

Culture is horrendous. Shadow hierarchy, back stabbing, split commissions, and extreme arrogance.

Karp is a role model for shitty, self enriching leadership, so widespread in the halls of government and executive suites of its billionaire sponsors (private equity underwriters (PEU)/and their TechGod brethren).  

You can have "few salespeople" when the game has but a few players enacting "the plan" which you helped craft over decades.  Karp has been a long serving member of the Bilderberg Steering Committee, which also employed Palantir's products.  It's a nice gig when global tamperers help you with product development.

Update 8-5-26:  Karp continued his insult tour by calling frontier AI models "Marxist" and saying they think they "deserve to colonize your enterprise", as well as those labs are "trying to drug addict us."

PEU Life of Walter, Mark

FindLaw reported:

Prosecutors in Manhattan and the SEC are now investigating Delaware Life, Clear Spring, and Guggenheim’s asset‑management arm, including how private‑credit investments tied to Walter’s broader business empire were disclosed and how Guggenheim represented its revenue.

Guggenheim Partners' website states "it conducts its operations with the highest legal and ethica standards."

The issue is a common one for private equity underwriters (PEU), related party transactions which are supposed to be arm's length and disclosure can be required.  Some deals are more of a bear hug (not arm's length) and disclosures inaccurate (from lying).

In response to subps sent to Delaware Life and Clear Spring in February, the insurers say they reviewed their books and found reporting errors in how billions in private‑credit investments backing other parts of Walter’s business empire had been classified. Delaware Life had previously told regulators that about 3 percent of its portfolio was invested in Walter‑linked companies; after re‑checking, it disclosed that related‑party investments were actually at least $17 billion (around 39 percent of its total invested assets), meaning a much larger portion of its book was tied to affiliated entities than regulators had been told.

That's a 1.200% miss for Delaware Life.

Walter’s holding company, TWG Global, links his sports teams with his insurance and asset‑management businesses. It has acknowledged the investigation and says it is cooperating, while the parent of Delaware Life and Clear Spring maintains that its capital and liquidity remain strong.

PEUReport wrote about TWG's purchase of the Lakers in June 2025.  Private equity targeted sports in a big way in the last two years and I speculated about UVA basketball coach Tony Bennett's possible involvements after he stepped down from that job.  

PEUs are all about incentives, do this to get that, money, power, political influence. I can't think of a worse next job for Tony Bennett than employment with the greed and leverage boys. However, that is the tidal wave getting ready to engulf college athletics. They need someone like Tony. The question is does Tony need them?

The Lakers hired Bennett in February.  It's clear Mark Walter needs to raise the ethical bar.

The likely banquet of non-consequences will be served up to Walter by U.S. political leaders as politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren and increasingly, more are one.

Note:  TWG Global did a deal with xAI and Palantir so it even has a bit of a TechGod flair.  Add a sovereign wealth fund cap to TWG with its investment arrangement with Mubadala Capital.  That's a lot of get out of jail free cards.

Also, Chris Whalen of the Institutional Risk Analyst  noted problems with PEU owned life insurers.

The American Prospect noted the intersection of private equity, private credit, life insurance companies and AI.  

Add not properly funded reinsurance from offshore insurers (PEU owned) and it seems capital serves every link in the chain except the annuity/policy holder.

Take one private credit fund from Jeffries:

...the fund presented exposure to Walmart Inc. and AutoZone Inc., when it was actually holding invoices those companies owed to First Brands.

...told investors its two biggest exposures were to Glencore Plc and Cargill Inc., when in reality those were invoices owed to Radiant World

First Brands blew up and Radiant World is currently leaking badly.  

The Carlyle Group taught us such things are defensible as puffery.

PEUFA

World Cup Soccer may soon have a new sponsor, just not the advertising kind.  

Private equity underwriters (PEU) Thrive Capital and Thrive Holdings together birthed Thrive Eternal in April 2026.  Thrive Eternal is a permanent capital holding company which focuses on:

"...... assets with qualities that cannot be replicated by technology. Iconic franchises and cultural institutions rooted in tradition, identity, and shared experience. In a world shaped by abundant intelligence where creation scales and distribution fragments, we believe they will matter even more. 

Thrive Eternal is built on the belief that the most enduring of these assets share common characteristics: they benefit from long-term stewardship, they compound through cultural resonance, and they are enhanced by technology rather than displaced by it."

PEUs have a decades long history of trashing iconic franchises and distorting cultural institutions.   Their new TechGod brethren have excelled at stewarding their personal fortunes and their sci-fi teen years have come to life in their fifties.  

TechGod and major creep Peter Thiel turned the Olympics into the Juiced Games, seeking world records from chemical compound driven performance.

What's the draw for soccer federations across the globe to sell the World Cup to a bunch of PEUs?  $20 million in one off capital.

FIFA is currently a Swiss-based not-for-profit association of its 211 national member federations worldwide. 

Those members must approve any plan and would get the chance "to access up to $20 million in one-off capital," FIFA said. 

"This is about the democratization of football worldwide," Infantino said in a FIFA statement, which added that "a consultation process has begun."

This is about the PEUization of football by Western globalist financial mercenaries.  Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.

Update 7-30-26:  CONCACAF and the World Leagues Association came out against the FIFA spin off plan.  FIFA Future Enterprise and private equity are PEUFA.

Update 8-1-26:  Thrive's FIFA interest ended up not being eternal.

Carlyle Buys NSA level Security Firm

The Carlyle Group added yet another affiliate in the security, intelligence, aerospace and defense space.  Carlyle cut its teeth flipping such firms.  The current addition is Secturion Systems:

Secturion is a leading provider of high-speed, National Security Agency (“NSA”) certified hardware encryption solutions that protect sensitive and classified information.

The press release included:

The acquisition represents a strong strategic fit for Carlyle and marks the first investment by the firm's dedicated middle-market Aerospace, Defense & Government and Industrials platform. 

With nearly 40 years of investing across the aerospace, defense, and government sectors, the acquisition aligns with Carlyle’s continued focus on partnering with innovative businesses and talented leadership teams to advance national security, defense modernization, and industrial resilience.

Making private equity underwriters (PEU) great again often comes with a direct Trump connection (other than Trump II's stock portfolio).   There is no evidence of a Trump child or in law being involved in this deal, but these things are often revealed later.

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.

Carlyle & Bain Seek RIA Enhancement

Investment News reported:

The Carlyle Group, a Washington, DC-based investment firm managing $477 billion in assets, and Boston-based Bain Capital are the last remaining bidders competing to buy Wealth Enhancement Group, a firm that oversees nearly $160 billion in client assets, according to people familiar with the matter. The deal is being discussed at a valuation of roughly $7 billion including debt, they said. 

No comments have been provided by Wealth Enhancement or current owners, TA Associates and Onex.

Which private equity underwriter (PEU) will win Wealth Enhancement?  Carlyle began scooping up registered investment advisors years ago.

Wealth Enhancement has acquired at least six additional RIAs since last year alone, pushing its client asset base to the current $160 billion figure. That kind of inorganic scaling has become a defining characteristic of the largest PE-backed wealth platforms, which compete aggressively with banks and wirehouse brokerages to attract high-net-worth individuals and business owners.

The PEU boys like RIA's predictable fees and seemingly don't fear TechGods automating investment services.  Carlyle and Bain must have seen Trump II's 2025 stock trading.  

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.  It is conceivable that all three are together in this and other enhancement endeavors.