Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic One thing to start: McKinsey is considering spinning off its in-house asset manager MIO Partners, which invests the private wealth of the consulting firm’s senior staff and alumni. The unit has been dogged by years of controversy over potential conflicts of interest with the firm’s consulting work.And a scoop: The Trump administration’s embrace of cryptocurrencies is helping fuel a speculative mania that could cause “havoc” when prices collapse, hedge fund Elliott has warned, according to an investor letter seen by the FT.In today’s newsletter:SoftBank plots its OpenAI affairMasayoshi Son has been laying low in recent years, rebuilding the strength of his tech conglomerate SoftBank. DD has missed his often adventurous financial forays.Masa has been circling the AI craze with relative quiet, but finally he’s within grasp of securing a seat at the table of Silicon Valley’s great investment craze.SoftBank is in talks to invest as much as $25bn in OpenAI, the darling at the heart of the AI frenzy. The deal would make the Japanese group OpenAI’s biggest financial backer.The investment would be part of a bigger funding round of about $40bn at Sam Altman’s company, which would push the ChatGPT-maker’s valuation to $300bn, the FT reported late on Thursday.Masa’s known for majorly leveraging up his investments (one banker in 2019 said there were “layers of leverage upon leverage”). This cuts two ways: when things turn sideways, they implode. But a good call can lead to massive payouts.When it comes to AI, is Masa buying in at the end of the cycle?SoftBank’s famous for a few spectacular blow-ups. WeWork’s valuation plummeted after it had to scrap its IPO plan (and then later, filed for bankruptcy). SoftBank’s ties and backing of Greensill Capital also ended in disaster.So, for a few years, Masa has kept under the radar, licking his wounds while building up a strong conviction that AI would be the centrepiece of his next great set of investments.And the spigot of massive tech investments has once again opened up, coaxing him to make a big dice roll.SoftBank’s one of just four investors who have pledged a total of $100bn to fund Stargate, a major new data centre project unveiled last week. (Others backing the project touted by President Donald Trump include Oracle, Abu Dhabi state fund MGX and OpenAI.)The ties between OpenAI and SoftBank are multiplying quickly. The new potential $25bn investment would cover the latter’s commitment to the US infrastructure project, according to several people familiar with the plans.When it comes to bets on AI, Masa has had some good luck so far. His investment in Arm — of which SoftBank’s still the majority shareholder — has made him a fortune, with the stock trebling since going public.This has given him a new stockpile of assets to leverage in every which way to seed his bets. Such firepower has historically become a fount of entertainment for Wall Street, or just good drama.Please join DD in pulling up a seat with some popcorn and a stiff drink in hand, because our boy’s officially back.Stellantis gears up for Trump’s AmericaJust before Donald Trump’s inauguration, the scion of Italy’s billionaire Agnelli family John Elkann joined a swelling list of high-powered executives to visit the returning US president.As ever with Trump, a deal was on the cards. Days later, the Dodge and Jeep maker Stellantis, which Elkann chairs, committed to invest $5bn across its US car factories.The move is part of Elkann’s plan to turn around the struggling carmaker, after the company parted ways with charismatic but uncompromising chief executive Carlos Tavares last month.Stellantis’s share price has cratered in the past year as it has struggled with a shortfall in demand for its cars. Tavares’s unrelenting style also damaged relations, not least with US dealers saddled with high-priced vehicles they were unable to shift.Since Tavares’s departure, Elkann has jetted across Europe to improve relations with the leaders of Italy, France and the EU, cancelled lay-offs in the US and refreshed Stellantis’s management teams.His visit to Trump may prove the most important step yet in his strategic reset.Beyond the $5bn investment, Elkann is betting that he can use Trump’s EV scepticism and deregulation push to Stellantis’s advantage.He told Trump he would back the new administration’s shift away from Joe Biden’s EV targets. The carmaker will launch a number of new models in 2025, across hybrid, electric and petrol formats.While Elkann may have won Trump’s favour, there are challenges ahead. The company continues to supply the US from Canada and Mexico, who are both threatened with tariffs.And whoever Elkann chooses as Stellantis’s next chief executive will face the same challenges as the rest of the car industry: increasing competition from China and a long-term slowdown in new car sales.A new star emerges inside BlackstoneBlackstone, the world’s largest alternative manager, is flexing its muscles again after enduring a test when interest rates soared in 2022, causing many investors to sell their investments in its massive property fund, Breit.It’s on the offensive again after raising $171bn and investing $134bn in 2024, not far off the New York-based group’s activity in 2021 when chief executive Stephen Schwarzman professed an “out of body experience” as cash sloshed around freely.In its fourth-quarter results, Blackstone’s relatively nascent infrastructure business emerged as a driver of better than expected returns.Its $43bn perpetual infrastructure fund soared about 20 per cent for the year, lifting its fee-related performance revenues by $1.2bn, or 728 per cent, from the same time in 2023.At the helm of Blackstone’s infrastructure unit is a rising star inside the group who was name-checked by Schwarzman in front of shareholders on Thursday.In 2017, Sean Klimczak was tasked with getting Blackstone on the map in infrastructure, an area where non-US groups such as Brookfield, Macquarie and EQT dominate. The efforts didn’t start off swimmingly — a Saudi Arabia-backed effort initially stalled.Meanwhile, independent infrastructure investment outfits including Global Infrastructure Partners and Stonepeak, which had been spun out of Blackstone, had their assets soar.But Blackstone’s now collected $55bn in infrastructure assets and believes it has positioned itself to be a major player. It has been bolstered by winning investments such as gas export pioneer Cheniere Energy Partners and data centre operator QTS.Schwarzman said the toils of building businesses internally carry “significant economic benefits as compared to a strategy of bolt-on acquisitions”, an apparent reference to a wave of infrastructure-related deals such as BlackRock’s $12.5bn takeover of GIP last year.Job movesBDT & MSD, the merchant bank, has hired Ryan Nolan to co-lead its technology practice, a source tells DD. He previously worked at Goldman Sachs.Clifford Chance has hired Emma Ghaffari as a partner for the firm’s global private capital team in London. She joins from Skadden Arps.Morgan Stanley banker Michael Grimes is expected to take a senior job at the US Department of Commerce, the New York Times reports. Grimes is the co-leader of the bank’s global technology banking practice.Smart readsSpace lasers Donald Trump has ordered work on a defence shield that goes beyond Ronald Reagan’s famed “Star Wars” programme, the FT reports.Deutsche’s woes For much of the past 15 years, the only thing consistent about Deutsche Bank was its ability to step on every rake it encountered, Lex writes. But disappointing annual results suggest anxiety over hidden garden implements remains.Bonus value As bonus season kicks off, Bloomberg analyses the bonus currencies for a dozen of the world’s biggest banks to help demystify the awards.News round-upDeutsche Bank chief says ‘nothing is off limits’ as profits plunge (FT)Staley discussed Madoff with Epstein, FCA alleges (FT)Microsoft sheds $200bn in market value after cloud sales disappoint (FT)Court rules Sanjeev Gupta owes $53mn to rival steelmakers (FT)Intel sales slide as chipmaker pursues turnaround strategy (FT)Meta sticks with big bet on AI even after DeepSeek shook markets (FT)UK regulator proposes easing obligations on Royal Mail (FT)Shell boss vows to take Jackdaw gasfield battle to UK’s highest court (FT)Thales Alenia Space wins €862mn deal for Europe’s first lunar cargo vehicle (FT)
