The New King of the Unicorns

With WeWork and Juul valuations plunging, payments company Stripe -- which is now worth $35 billion in the wake of its September funding round -- can be measured as the most highly valued unicorn in the U.S. The firm’s CFO, an ex-venture capitalist who’s in only his mid-30s, was pretty muted on his outlook for going public in an interview with Bloomberg’s Julie Verhage at Money 20/20 in Las Vegas this week, saying his company doesn't really need the funds. At the event, thousands of VCs, fintech execs, bankers and regulators mapped out their view of the future of money. Stripe’s mission: "to increase the GDP of the internet."

The idea is that e-commerce still represents less than 10% of retail sales. It’s clear that more of the Money 2020 crowd sees a chance to move a LOT more of that online. More takeaways from Vegas:

• "Data is the new currency." That’s what FDIC Chairman Jelena McWilliams said on a panel, adding that she didn’t want her legacy to include stifling innovation. The tone is less critical than what we saw from Congress last week, when Mark Zuckerberg was grilled on plans for Libra. The OCC’s Joseph Otting and the CFPB’s Kathleen Kraninger were also there to explain their commitment to working with the fintech community.
• Money can come cheap. Uber unveiled plans for a new division, Uber Money, and is offering cheaper banking services to its millions of drivers with mobile bank accounts. It may one day offer bank accounts to consumers, reports CNBC. Consumers are also going to get bigger rewards through the ride-share firm’s credit cards.
• Payments are king. With the tech world mostly unwilling to get into capital-heavy businesses, I actually heard someone say they wanted to be the "James Bond of Payments." At one point, I watched a pair of startup CEOs compare their premium credit cards.
• Men of a certain generation really love Eddie Vedder. That’s what I learned at the blackjack tables as Steve McLaughlin’s after-party became the talk of the town. The ex-Goldman banker’s firm, Financial Technology Partners, is on track to have a record year, beating out a record 2018. In addition to working on deals including InstaMed's sale to JPMorgan and helping at least 16 firms raise more than $50 million in capital, his pipeline has even larger private placements ahead.

More on McLaughlin: "We are working on numerous $500 million stakes as well, which would take this up significantly," he said. "This is all quite unprecedented for an investment bank, especially in a niche like fintech."

The Pearl Jam singer was followed by Snoop Dogg, who has invested in fintech firms like Robinhood. The event raised $1.5 million, which will go to charities focused on skin and cancer-related illnesses, McLaughlin said.

Private Equity Rush

Blackstone’s more than $100 billion in assets brought in this year is nearly on par with what it collected in in 2017. KKR, meanwhile, reported a slowdown in fundraising and asset sales in the third quarter. Apollo missed Wall Street's profit estimates this morning as advisory and transaction fees slipped in the third quarter from the previous three months. Carlyle's profit fell as the firm sold fewer assets. Some poignant stories in this universe, ICYMI:

• Buyout titans quietly discover how to get richer, by Bloomberg’s Tom Metcalf and Gillian Tan. They dive into wealth creation in the stake-sale business, as record funds are being raised.
• Apollo is doubling down on Athene. After the insurer faced a stock decline over one year, and was trading below its IPO price, the asset manager upped its stake in Athene. The insurer jumped on the deal announcement but it’s still trading below the $46.20 Apollo offer price for the shares.

More in Investment Banking

ICYMI our exclusive interview with Sergio Ermotti, you can find it here. The UBS CEO said he’s not pleased with performance at the investment bank, which slipped 62% from a year earlier. He also said he seeks to cut costs at every corner and "nothing is really untouchable" as he plans to unveil a new three-year strategy in January. (We address some of the talent changes at UBS here for BTV.) And speaking of strategies, Deutsche Bank’s revamp failed to lift revenue and the stock has suffered from it. Income fell at almost every unit.

Boutique banks had some choppy results this week. Evercore -- which now generates more in annual advisory fees than Bank of America and Citigroup and other large banks -- slipped in trading after earnings missed analysts' estimates. But Moelis and PJT beat expectations. Lazard CEO Ken Jacobs told me today that the firm is planning to close some smaller offices, with plans to shed 200 jobs in total. Headcount should still be flat as the firm invests in other areas. "There have been some changes in the macro environment globally, which leads us to believe there’s a better use of resources in other parts of the firm,” he said.

In people news: Jeff Sine of Raine Group was appointed to the WeWork board as an independent director. Raine has worked closely with SoftBank in the past, and Marcelo Claure has taken over as executive chairman. SoftBank is still seeking CFIUS approval for the bailout package, but the cash infusion of $1.5 billion was executed on Wednesday. Separately, Masa Son got on stage at Saudi Arabia's Future Investment Initiative summit and encountered an empty crowd (for BTV -- if you check out the footage, it really is empty).

More On Wall Street

• Alan Howard gives up his CEO role at Brevan Howard to spend more time trading.
• Paul Tudor Jones and Steve Cohen warned that the stock market could tumble on a Warren presidency. But Wall Street hasn't shown the ability to get it right in the past -- after all, they said the same about Trump.
• The blank-check company of Michael Klein, one of the world's top dealmakers, is eyeing a bid for Univision, my colleagues at Bloomberg Deals broke. And on a much bigger note, they also broke LVMH's interest for Tiffany -- a $14.5 billion offer.
• Fidelity cuts its Juul valuation by almost 50% and co-investor Altria may follow.
• Mnuchin spoke to Jamie Dimon and other bank execs to consider loosening liquidity rules in a bid to relieve possible issues in short-term funding markets, Bloomberg's Saleha Mohsin reports.
• JPMorgan may move thousands of jobs out of New York City, where it has more than two-centuries of history, Bloomberg's Michelle Davis reports.

Hope to catch up soon! Only 8.5 weeks left, and hoping that you’re holding strong. -- Sonali