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MARKETS
💰 Louisiana CEO Gives Workers $240 Million in Bonuses After Selling His Company for $1.7 Billion
(Credit: Fibrebond)
The Scoop: A Louisiana factory owner transformed a $1.7 billion sale into a rare worker windfall, requiring that employees receive a meaningful share of the proceeds—delivering one of the largest broad-based bonus payouts in modern U.S. manufacturing, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The Details:
Fibrebond’s former CEO, Graham Walker, made a 15% employee allocation a non-negotiable condition of the sale to Eaton, totaling roughly $240 million.
About 540 full-time workers qualified, with average payouts near $443,000 paid over five years.
Payments were structured as retention bonuses to keep the workforce intact after the acquisition.
Lesia Key, a 29-year Fibrebond veteran who started in 1995 making $5.35 an hour, broke down in tears when she opened her letter.
The money quickly flowed into the local economy, funding home payoffs, small business launches, retirements, and major purchases.
What’s Next: The outcome is likely to fuel broader discussion among private-equity buyers and founders over profit-sharing at exit, especially as companies compete to retain skilled labor and manage post-acquisition stability.
Market Roundup
🏦 Economy
⭐ Editor’s Pick: U.S. economy continued its robust growth in 2025, defying widespread predictions of slowdown, fueled by resilient consumer spending and massive investments in AI infrastructure. (WSJ)
Trump's administration has overhauled the H-1B visa program, replacing the random lottery with a merit-based weighted system prioritizing higher-skilled and higher-paid foreign workers. (BN)
U.S. retirement accounts rebounded sharply in 2025, with average 401(k) balances up $23,200 or 16.9% through Q3, offsetting much of the Biden administration's inflation-adjusted losses. (NYP)
U.S. mortgage rates eased ahead of the Christmas holiday, with the average 30-year fixed rate dipping to 6.18% from 6.21% the prior week. (FBN)
📈 Hot Stock Picks
⭐ Editor’s Pick: AT&T, yielding 4.5%, is JPMorgan's sole telecommunications pick in its top stocks for 2026, backed by robust free cash flow and expected EBITDA growth. (BAR)
Morningstar highlighted three undervalued wide-moat value stocks for long-term holding into 2026: Campbell's, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Constellation Brands. (MS)
Harris Douglas Asset Management portfolio manager Paul Harris selected FirstService, Visa, and Adobe as top picks, citing growth potential in property services, global payments, and software amid strong fundamentals. (BBG)
MarketBeat highlighted Agnico Eagle Mines, Barrick Gold, and Newmont as top mining picks for 2026, with shares surging 121% to 187% in 2025 amid record gold prices. (MB)
🏢 Industry
⭐ Editor’s Pick: A ticket sold in Arkansas claimed the $1.817 billion Powerball jackpot on Christmas Eve, marking the second-largest U.S. lottery prize ever. (ABC)
Heirs of late billionaire Robert Brockman agree to pay $750 million in back taxes and penalties to settle the largest-ever U.S. individual tax-fraud case brought by the IRS. (WSJ)
Logan Paul is auctioning his record-breaking $5.3 million PSA Grade 10 Pikachu Illustrator card on Jan. 12, 2026, with estimates reaching $12 million, capitalizing on a hot collectibles market. (DOT)
Ellisons weigh “DefCon 1” litigation over Warner Bros. Discovery board's preference for Netflix's $82.7 billion partial bid. (NYP)
An elusive North Korean banker, Sim Hyon Sop, allegedly masterminded creative schemes to evade sanctions and launder regime funds. (WSJ)
🛢️ Energy & Commodities
⭐ Editor’s Pick: U.S. rare earth buyers report persistent Chinese export restrictions on key raw materials like dysprosium, despite a deal between Trump and Xi aimed at lifting curbs. (MIN)
White House will prioritize enforcing a "quarantine" on Venezuelan oil exports for at least the next two months to pressure Maduro's regime. (RTS)
Gold and silver prices surged to fresh record highs, with spot gold reaching $4,530.60 an ounce and silver hitting $75.14. (INV)
Platinum prices surged to a record $2,413.62 an ounce, propelled by tight supply, an EU reversal of its 2035 combustion-engine vehicle ban. (FB)
🌕 Crypto
⭐ Editor’s Pick: Caroline Ellison is set for full release from federal custody on Jan. 21 after serving just roughly 14 months of her two-year sentence for fraud tied to the FTX’s collapse. (TB)
Trust Wallet will reimburse users for roughly $7 million in losses from a Christmas Day exploit of its browser extension. (CT)
Crypto mergers and acquisitions reached a record $8.6 billion in 2025, nearly quadrupling the prior year's $2.17 billion, fueled by Trump’s pro-crypto policies. (CD)
TECH
💻 Nvidia Seals $20 Billion Talent-and-Tech Deal with AI Chip Startup Groq
(Credit: UMA Media)
The Scoop: Nvidia struck a high-stakes talent-and-technology deal with AI chip startup Groq on Wednesday, bolstering its position in AI inference as reports swirled that the arrangement could be worth as much as $20 billion, Reuters reports.
The Details:
Nvidia agreed to a non-exclusive license for Groq’s inference technology and will hire away Groq founder Jonathan Ross, its president, and key members of its engineering team.
CNBC reported that Nvidia had agreed to acquire Groq for $20 billion in cash, though neither Nvidia nor Groq confirmed the figure or described the deal as an acquisition.
Groq said it will continue operating as an independent company, with its cloud business intact and a new CEO in place.
The structure echoes recent “acqui-hire” style deals across Big Tech, allowing firms to secure critical talent and IP without triggering a formal takeover.
Nvidia dominates AI training chips but faces stiffer competition in inference from AMD and startups such as Groq and Cerebras.
What’s Next: The deal is likely to draw regulatory scrutiny as inference becomes the next battleground in AI chips, with Nvidia signaling it will defend its lead through licensing and talent grabs rather than outright acquisitions.
Tech Roundup
🧠 AI
⭐ Editor’s Pick: AI created more than 50 new billionaires in 2025, fueled by a record $200 billion in sector funding and massive infrastructure investments from tech giants. (FOR)
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman forecasted the next major AI breakthrough will involve systems with infinite, perfect memory to achieve superhuman intelligence. (IND)
Duke University researchers unveiled an AI framework that distills simple, interpretable mathematical rules from chaotic complex systems, yielding models over 10 times smaller than prior methods. (DC)
🤖 Robots
⭐ Editor’s Pick: STMicroelectronics partnered with Oversonic Robotics to deploy RoBee humanoid robots in its semiconductor factories, marking the first use of such robots in chip production for logistics. (YF)
LG Electronics will unveil its advanced home robot, LG CLOiD, at CES 2026, embodying the company's "Zero Labor Home" vision to eliminate household chores. (PRN)
TARS Robotics unveiled a world-first demonstration of its robot successfully performing hand embroidery, threading a needle and stitching a logo. (IE)
🚀 Defense & Space
⭐ Editor’s Pick: Israel announced a $110 billion decade-long plan to build an independent domestic arms industry, aiming to sharply reduce reliance on the U.S. (JPOST)
NASA's Perseverance rover identified its first meteorite on Mars, dubbed Phippsaksla, a nickel-iron fragment from an asteroid that offers rare insights into the solar system. (BGR)
Ukraine's defense ministry approved the DevDroid Droid NW 40 as its first unmanned ground vehicle equipped with 40mm automatic grenade launchers. (BI)
💰Venture Capital
⭐ Editor’s Pick: Marissa Mayer's new AI personal assistant startup Dazzle raised $8 million in seed funding at a $35 million valuation, led by Forerunner Ventures. (TC)
CoreEL Technologies raised $30 million in a Series B round led by ValueQuest to expand its indigenous capabilities in aerospace and defense systems. (BW)
AI app studio Reface secured €15.2 million ($17.90 million) in non-dilutive user acquisition funding from PvX Partners to accelerate growth in its consumer apps focused on creativity, wellbeing, and health. (EUS)
FREEDOM
📢 Trump Admin Bans European Censorship Orchestrators From Entering U.S.
(Credit: U.S. Embassy Jerusalem/Flickr)
The Scoop: The Trump administration has imposed visa bans on five European figures involved in efforts to regulate online content, a decisive step to counter what U.S. officials describe as foreign attempts to influence and suppress American speech on social media platforms.
The Details:
Rubio announced the measures this week, targeting individuals accused of leading "organized efforts to coerce American platforms to censor, demonetize, and suppress American viewpoints," including through the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA).
The sanctioned include former EU Commissioner Thierry Breton, described by Under Secretary Sarah Rogers as the DSA's "mastermind" for threatening platforms like X during the 2024 election; Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate; Clare Melford, head of the Global Disinformation Index; and Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon of Germany's HateAid.
European officials, including Macron and the European Commission, condemned the bans as unjustified interference, vowing to defend regulatory autonomy.
What’s Next: This move signals a firmer U.S. stance against perceived overreach in global content moderation, with the State Department indicating readiness to expand the list if such pressures persist.
Freedom Roundup
🏛️ Policy & Culture
⭐ Editor’s Pick: Victoria's government advances laws forcing social media platforms to verify and disclose user identities in "hate speech" cases. (RTN)
Politico smeared European Christmas celebrations as a "far-right spectacle," claiming Meloni politicized the holiday by defending Christian traditions against secular influences. (BN)
A Frazee, Minnesota, homeowner honored assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk with a rooftop Christmas light display spelling "We are Charlie Kirk." (VNL)
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DISCLAIMER: The CAPITAL newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or professional advice. Readers should conduct their own research and consult a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions. The CAPITAL newsletter and its owner and operator, Josh Caplan, are not liable for any loss or damage resulting from reliance on this information. The CAPITAL newsletter is solely owned and independently operated by Josh Caplan, separate from any employer affiliations.
