Lakers Get Quick PEU Flip

ESPN broke the news of Thrive Capital's purchase of Mark Walters' LA Lakers ownership stake.   

SB Nation noted the short time period of Walters' franchise ownership through TWG Global.

Not even 10 full months since Mark Walter officially acquired the franchise, he sold it to Bob Iger and Josh Kushner on Wednesday. If Walter’s purchase of the team was shocking, it’s hard to find a word to describe this transaction. 

 The sale of the team, though, came at the same time as Walter is being investigated by the FBI for loan fraud.

My wise friend had already made this connection:

"What a convenient way to bypass Walters' prosecution by having Bob Iger and Josh Kushner buy a majority stake in the LA Lakers at $12.5 billion valuation. Sometimes you go to jail for violating federal and state regulations, other times you just have to share the bounty.  "JUST - US" is alive and thriving."

Walters may have misrepresented the value of TWG/Guggenheim Partners holdings in a $10 billion investment deal with Mubadala, a Dubai based sovereign wealth fund.

An interesting aside will be the fate of former UVA basketball coach Tony Bennett, known for his ethical principles and squeaky clean image.  The Lakers named Bennett their Draft Advisor. in February 

Walters said he sold because the opportunity came up to flip the team and make a quick $2.5 billion.  Really?  A cash grab outweighed the opportunity to own a rich, storied pro basketball franchise?  

Flashback to his statement in October 2025 at the time of purchase:

The Los Angeles Lakers are one of the most iconic franchises in all of sports, defined by a history of excellence and the relentless pursuit of greatness.  Few teams carry the legacy and global influence of the Lakers, and it’s a privilege to work alongside Jeanie Buss as we maintain that excellence and set the standard for success in this new era, both on and off the court. - Lakers new owner Mark Walter

It was a privilege to briefly and barely work alongside....

This era of greed and the quick flip is brought to you by questionable PEUs and their TechGod brethren.  Both groups' political connections provide regulatory advantage, preferential legal treatment in times of trouble and a tax code all their own.  That deal is not for you.

From "Greatest" to "Greediest"

It was foretold that in the ashes of the greatest generation would rise a class of grifters, conmen and ne'er-do-wells.  Such a time has come to pass, courtesy of elected officials, private equity underwriters (PEU) and TechGods.

A handshake was once one's word, their personal bond.  Entities now have beneficial owners such that the people behind them are unknown.  PEU's can on all sides of a deal, a carnival side show of the multi-armed man in a hall of mirrors, thus giving the impression of being at arm's length in multiple directions simultaneously.

Elections were won by votes based on barnstorming and word of mouth.  The most powerful court in the land negated that practice by awarding money free speech rights.  

Wisdom, knowledge and virtue have been replaced by insolence, sloth and whimsy.  

Christ has been pushed aside for Old Testament Kings.  

Justice turned into "Just Us."

Violence was to be avoided, only a last resort.  Now those in charge look to punch first, seeking an immediate knockout.  

Truth telling was once an obligation of great leaders.  Spin has replaced that, with the greatest fawning aimed at the most powerful.  Mirror, mirror.

Charlatans promise absurd things to divert attention away from their mendacious machinations.  The people are too exhausted trying to get by to challenge any of their nonsense.  The blather floats in the airwaves and bobs around the internet.

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.  Together they remake the world to fulfill their dark dreams of obscene personal wealth by any means possible.  For that many suffer.

PEU Vultures Circling

Many U.S. voters have worked for an employer that is "sponsored" by private equity.  These voters know the internal distaste from the greed and leverage boys executing their playbook.  PEUs sent jobs offshore.  They often slashed jobs and supply budgets in order to fund deals fees, special dividends and soaring interest expenses.

Private equity underwriters (PEU) long sold their investment wares to public pension funds.  Now they aim to be the one stop shop for most retirement investing needs, 401(k), IRA, retirement annuity, life insurance. etc.

Elected officials, long PEU sponsored themselves (including post public service employment), facilitated this transition.

Many voters are stressed shoppers who regularly experience the impact of higher prices and poorer quality.

Big conglomerates and private equity were buying up "trusted brands and riding that reputation out until it was a husk of what it was". 

"...founders who built brands they love take lucrative offers from big corporations or private equity investors. While they cash in on the decades it took to build their product's brand, the new corporate owners eventually prove they don't have the same emotional investment and are distanced from loyal customers.

"...news industry in the US used to hold corporations more accountable for the quality of their products and service. But consumer-facing business news was decimated when local newspapers disappeared and national news outlets shifted their corporate coverage to focus on investors."

In some cases those PEU investors were their owners. 

The United States has a local journalism crisis, one that is only worsening. Almost 40% of all local newspapers have shut down since 2005, leaving around 50 million Americans with severely diminished access to news and civic information, according to the Medill School’s State of Local News Report 2025. 

At the core of this crisis is the rise of ownership by private-equity firms and corporate chain owners, which are gutting local newspapers.

It's hard to be an educated voter when resources disappear or become conflicted and purposely push a distorted message.  Far more slanted messages are on the way,  intended to get you to put your retirement money in PEU offerings.

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one and frankly, it's killing our federal republic (on top of harming product quality and democracy).

NVIDIA Chip Data Center Financing Goes PEU

Full stack AI infrastructure may soon be an investable asset class and private equity underwriters (PEU) aim to play a big role.  Apollo, Blackstone and KKR will join Brookfield, Goldman Sachs and BlackRock to fund the data center build out.  

KKR may stuff that data center financing into its insurance affiliate, Global Atlantic Financial Group.

References to KKR’s investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds and insurance subsidiaries.

Global Atlantic Financial Group's products are shown on their website.  They include annuities and pension risk transfer products.

The PEU boys may load up their insurance holdings with risky data center financing.  And who would back those up if they failed?  

Insurance products are state regulated and many states have "guaranty associations" which cover failed products up to a certain limit.  For most states annuities are covered to $250,000, although a few go as high as $500,000.

As for Global Atlantic the fine print on their website states:

Guarantees provided are subject to the financial strength of the issuing insurance company; not guaranteed by any bank or the FDIC. 

This information is written in connection with the promotion or marketing of the matter(s) addressed in this material. The information cannot be used or relied upon for the purpose of avoiding IRS penalties. These materials are not intended to provide tax, accounting or legal advice. As with all matters of a tax or legal nature, you should consult your tax or legal counsel for advice. 

Life insurance products are issued by and all policy benefits are the responsibility of Accordia Life and Annuity Company, 215 10th Street, Des Moines, Iowa. Accordia Life is subsidiary of Global Atlantic Financial Group Limited. 

Annuities are issued by Forethought Life Insurance Company, 10 West Market Street, Suite 2300, Indianapolis, Indiana. Variable annuities are underwritten and distributed by Global Atlantic Distributors, LLC.

Packaging data center debt could produce regularly recurring PEU fees.  

Significant, dedicated pools of capital at attractive rates is the promise to data centers that use NVIDIA chips.  What's the promise to investors, especially those unaware that data center infrastructure debt is backstopping their insurance product?

FDIC bank limits are fairly well known.  State Guaranty limits may need to be as well.   

The boys that helped break the financial system in 2008 and front and center in 2026.  I would not put it past them to do it again.

As for anyone truly protecting the little person, they went AWOL decades ago.  It happened as politicians Red & Blue loved PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one and they know how to further their interests.  Yours?  Not so much.

Another TechGod Dangle

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg committed to building AI super intelligence "with the principles of individual empowerment, invention and balance of power" in a WSJ opinion piece.

Meta's Chief Technology Officer crapped on that vision by hammering an employee who asked about the possible return of a prior time off benefit, Meta Days.  The company offered Meta Days in 2022.  The benefit was a response to overworking staff.

Mark Zuckerberg's yacht was not redirectable when a nearby ship came under duress off the Alaskan coast.  The yacht's crew did not respond to direct hailing calls for assistance.

Recall that TechGods advocate a 96 hour work week to keep up with China.  Also, recall the power that social media put in creeps and criminals hands.  Meta facilitated child predators with its algorithms.

TechGods copied the private equity underwriter (PEU) playbook which leverages capital and political power for obscene profits.  Affiliate employees are simply purchased and divested, garning benefit cuts and layoffs along the way.  

I worked for a healthcare company acquired by two PEUs.  They quickly eliminated half the office staff, cut our floating holiday and reduced holiday pay.  It happened three years before Meta Days disappeared.  I am not alone:

Big conglomerates and private equity were buying up "trusted brands and riding that reputation out until it was a husk of what it was."  

...founders who built brands they love take lucrative offers from big corporations or private equity investors.  

Americans are finding that the quality of many once-beloved name brands is declining (from) ...relentless pressure to increase profits that intrinsically erodes product quality.

Workers know the deal does not favor them, as do voters.  That's because politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.  

LIV Golf's Saudi Wind-down

The Athletic reported:

President Donald Trump and PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan were together before the final round of LIV Golf’s event at Trump National Bedminster on Sunday.

The Saudi sovereign wealth fund pulled out of LIV Golf, "golf but louder", after Trump II attacked Iran alongside Israel in a war of choice.  The conflict began February 28, 2026.  Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) withdrew future support for LIV in April.

“The substantial investment required by LIV Golf over a longer term is no longer consistent with the current phase of PIF’s investment strategy. This decision has been made in light of PIF’s investment priorities and current macro dynamics.".

LIV Golf has been a frequent user of Trump golf courses for its professional golf tournaments.  A number of Trump family members were at Bedminster over the weekend.  Ivanka and Eric showed up in pictures.  

Was Al-Rumayyan there for a future PIF investments in Trump II's or one of his kids' projects?  Ivanka is working on an Albanian luxury resort that surely needs capital.

The Saudi SWF Chief may have been there to wrap up PIF's involvement with LIV Golf.

PIF was considering paying off remaining player contracts to settle any potential liability. Multiple players, most notably Jon Rahm, could be convinced to stay with LIV and be given equity in “LIV 2.0” as a result.

Al-Rumayyan may have been there to sell their Saudi equity stake for pennies on the dollar.

As for Trump II's other ventures, there has been much news from his Truth Social company.  A Trump Media and Technology Group press release (of an FT article) stated:

Trump calls Truth Social “his typewriter”, according to the 53-year-old CEO Kevin McGurn.

Trump II's presidential words are being sold for preferential access.  Trump previously called Twitter "his typewriter", while his "human printer" is White House aide Natalie Harp.

McGurn said there are now 10 customers, mostly high frequency traders, (press release of an Axios article).  Are all ten paying $100,000 a month for the service?  

McGurn also said he sees these initiatives:

"becoming a core part of Trump’s business portfolio after the 2028 election when its poster-in-chief stands down."

They've designed an exclusive service and their defense to unfair access to market moving insider information is:

" let the internet and the packet delivery take care of itself."

These people are shameless.  

Trump Media reached a confidential settlement with original DWAC investors Patrick Orlando and ARC Global Investments II.  A 2024 lawsuit challenged the conversion rate of Class B shares.  

"all claims between and among individuals and entities including Trump Media, Patrick Orlando, and ARC Global Investments II LLC have been mutually resolved pursuant to a confidential settlement agreement."

Sometimes the shameless fight amongst themselves.

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.