The "backlog"
Happy Friday! If you’re reading this, I’m already in the beautiful island of Saint Barth, on a much needed and long anticipated vacation. The original plan was to visit the island in November for the Thanksgiving break: we had everything booked, packed, and ready to go. Then, a few days before the flight, my son got really sick and so we cancelled the trip until some indefinite time in the future. I will say that health is most important, and as painful as it was in November, I am glad the illness and stress are behind. So, now, please keep your fingers crossed it will be as smooth of a trip as one can be with a toddler and a preteen on board.
For such a slow start of the year in dealmaking, I’ve been surprisingly busy. All because there is a lot more news to cover lately aside from deals. A lot of work is taking place to prepare for sale processes in the second half of 2025, and people familiar tell me they are winning mandates left and right. The word "backlog" is one that comes up weekly, if not daily, in my calls.
This is also the time of the year when some bankers decide to switch jobs, and we are starting to notice more movement on Wall Street.
Earlier this week, I spoke to Buzz Black, who left Morgan Stanley to join an investment banking boutique AXOM Partners, led by former Qatalyst Partners’ bankers.
Buzz, who advised Blackstone and Vista on its $8.4 billion acquisition of Smartsheet, as well as KKR on their $4.8 billion acquisition of Instructure, told me he wasn't looking to leave Morgan Stanley, but also couldn't miss a chance to join a bank where he be not only a banker but an entrepreneur as well.
"Opportunities like this don't come along every day, they're going to come along once a decade or maybe once a career," Buzz told me. "We are on the ground floor of building the next premier strategic advisory firm in Silicon Valley."
This week in tech...
My colleagues in Singapore, Taipei, San Francisco, and New York, had all teamed up to break news on the potential joint venture discussions for Intel's factories.
We reported that TSMC pitched U.S. chip designers Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices, and Broadcom about taking stakes in a joint venture that would operate Intel's factories, according to four sources familiar with the matter.
Under the proposal, the Taiwanese chipmaking giant would run the operations of Intel's foundry division, which makes chips adapted for the needs of customers, but it would not own more than 50%, the sources said. Qualcomm has also been pitched by TSMC, according to one of the sources and a separate source.
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The story was published a day before Intel appointed its former board member Lip-Bu Tan as its new CEO.
My colleagues did a deep dive into Lip-Bu Tan's story of becoming one of the most respected industry veterans.
While little known to the public, his advantage is that virtually every one of Intel's former and potential customers knows him and has done business with him, either buying one of the many startups he backed or using software from a company he ran, Reuters' Max A. Cherney and Stephen Nellis wrote on Thursday.
More TMT news:
What else is going on? For any anonymous deal tips you can find me on Signal (@MilanaVinn.01) and Telegram (@milanavinn). I am also available by email [email protected] and via cell.
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Have a great weekend, and see you in a few weeks!
Milana