Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic One scoop to start: Social media site X’s valuation has soared back to $44bn, underscoring the sharp turnaround in the company’s fortunes since its owner Elon Musk assumed the role of staunch ally to US President Donald Trump.In today’s newsletter: Google tests Trump’s antitrust regimeBuffett’s baby Berkshires in JapanSaudi Arabia’s consultant cash dries upGoogle becomes the Wiz of M&AGoogle parent Alphabet sealed its largest-ever acquisition on Tuesday, announcing it had agreed to buy cyber security start-up Wiz for $32bn after brisk negotiations.The deal marked a sharp reversal of fortunes after the two sides abandoned deal talks last summer.So what changed since then? Top of the list: a new US president and about $10bn more in cash.Last time around, Alphabet’s $23bn offer failed to lead to an agreement after members of both companies’ boards expressed scepticism about whether the deal could get past regulators. But that was under former president Joe Biden. While Donald Trump’s White House has signalled it will not roll over easily on merger approvals, this deal shows the companies are willing to test the risk appetite of the new administration. As the DD team scooped, it was crucial that Alphabet had agreed to pay an unusually high $3.2bn break fee to Wiz if the deal collapsed. Alphabet will set a new record for its biggest takeover — easily topping its $12.5bn acquisition of Motorola Mobility — and will mark the largest-ever M&A deal for a venture-backed company, if it’s able to complete the transaction.One group of people cheering for a deal will be Wiz’s investors. The five-year-old company was backed by VCs including Index Ventures, which is its largest shareholder with a more than 12 per cent stake.Other big shareholders include Greenoaks, Insight Partners, Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, G Squared, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Wellington. Another key investor was the Israeli fund Cyberstarts, which first invested $7mn in Wiz’s seed round. Thrive Capital, the VC firm founded by Josh Kushner, the brother of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, also holds a large stake.The transaction will be celebrated among bankers at Goldman Sachs who were advisers to Wiz, while Alphabet was advised by Bank of America. It caps off a meteoric rise for Wiz, which was founded in 2020 by alumni of Israel’s elite cyber intelligence unit. Wiz chief executive Assaf Rappaport had previously sold a start-up to Microsoft, and the team has gone even bigger with its next venture.While the price may be eye-popping, Alphabet chief executive Sundar Pichai is betting that the acquisition will drive growth at its cloud business, which competes with Amazon’s AWS, Microsoft’s Azure and Oracle.It also allows Wiz, which generates about $700mn of annualised recurring revenue, to bypass choppy IPO markets. Go deeper with Lex. Buffett bulks up on Japan’s baby BerkshiresWarren Buffett once joked that when he looked for advice, he looked in the mirror. By his own admission, the mirror image of his investment conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway is Japan’s top five trading houses.This week Buffett followed through on his signal that he would lift Berkshire’s stakes in Itochu, Mitsubishi Corporation, Mitsui, Marubeni and Sumitomo Corporation.Just as his conglomerate has moved far beyond its textiles manufacturing roots to a diversified investment giant, the trading houses started out with fabrics and commodities essential to rebuilding postwar Japan’s economy. These days their operations reach chemicals, insurance and real estate to salmon, ramen noodles and TV shopping. In Berkshire’s annual shareholder letter released last month, Buffett heaped praise on the trading companies. His firm has held the trading houses since 2019 and plans to keep the stakes for “many decades” to come.They have all the signs of being good investments for Buffett already, with holdings amounting to $23.5bn at the end of 2024 for a total cost of $13.8bn. Buffett’s doubling down on the trading houses is counter to the swelling $334bn cash pile at Berkshire after it sold $143bn in equities last year. Despite agreeing with the trading house chiefs to relax a ceiling of 10 per cent shareholding in the trading companies, Berkshire still remains below the threshold for all of the five.The purchases helped to boost their values as each stock gained by about 3 per cent on Tuesday. The Japanese trading houses do face challenges. Tariffs and inflation threaten consumer demand for their products. Deflationary China could push down prices of commodities, which they are heavily invested in.Equally, they stand ready to capitalise on opportunities arising from the reordering of the global economy under Trump from the reopening of Russia to European defence spending.Either way, the Oracle of Omaha is betting Japan’s investment champions will keep making money — as well as increasing dividends, lifting share buybacks and paying top executives more modest salaries than US counterparts. When all else is looking ugly in the world, you better like what you see in the mirror. The end of the ‘blank cheque era’ in Saudi ArabiaBeing a management consultant in Saudi Arabia was never reputed to be particularly easy — war stories abound of calls from clients at 4am, or on Christmas Eve.Still, few were complaining. Driven by the Kingdom’s transformative Vision 2030 agenda, including giga-projects such as Neom, the Saudi market’s blistering expansion in the past couple of years provided lucrative business for partners, even as their colleagues in places like London grappled with sluggish revenue growth.But with 2030 getting closer, and officials — under pressure to show results — questioning whether their huge spending on consultants was worth it, Saudi Arabia’s “blank cheque” era looks to be over, the FT’s Chloe Cornish, Andrew England and Ellesheva Kissin reported.“People within the industry have expected a reckoning on the value-for-money question for some time,” said an executive at one of the biggest consultancies.Some see PwC as the first notable casualty of Saudi Arabia’s increasing discomfort with the firms they had relied on for help with everything from strategy to providing additional manpower.The Big Four firm has been served a one-year ban on new work with Saudi Arabia’s powerful Public Investment Fund, which is driving its economic diversification plan. The FT has reported that the ban came after PwC and the PIF had clashed over the former’s attempts to hire a senior executive from one of the latter’s key projects.It’s fair to say PwC’s temporary ban caused tremors in the industry — “it’s every conversation” among consultants, an executive told DD. But it’s not all over for the Dubai-Riyadh Sunday night flight regulars. While the boom is slowing, and increased competition among firms means that Saudi clients can demand lower prices, no one thinks the consultancy market in the kingdom is about to wither away. Source Global, a research firm, still believes the sector will enjoy double-digit growth this year.Job moves Richard Perry has joined Olympus Peak Management as a partner, according to Bloomberg. He rejoins the hedge fund industry after a nine-year hiatus.Citigroup has appointed Michael Lavelle as vice-chair of global financing.TPG has appointed Jennifer Chu as partner, chief legal officer and general counsel. Chu was previously deputy co-chair of the M&A group at Debevoise & Plimpton.William Pulte has named himself chair of US government housing agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as part of an overhaul of both companies’ boards of directors and the ousting of 14 directors by the Trump administration.KSL Capital Partners has named Tim Dattels, Alex Dichter and Ted Seides as senior advisers.Andrew Johnson has been named global head of communications and public affairs at Lone Star Funds. He previously headed communications for GTCR.Smart readsDEI backlash Morgan Stanley’s diversity initiatives have upset staff across the board, reports The Wall Street Journal. Now, the company is watering down the measures.Car tariffs Car executives have so far been spared Donald Trump’s tariffs on Mexico and China, writes the FT. But they worry that duties on components might be on the US president’s agenda.Revving up China’s carmakers are seizing market share rapidly across emerging markets, and Trump’s tariffs are unlikely to stop them, reports Bloomberg. News round-upWall Street stocks slide as sell-off in tech shares picks up pace (FT)BYD shares hit record high on 5-minute EV charging claims (FT)Thames Water plans June equity deal (FT)Investors slash US equity holdings by most ever, BofA survey shows (FT)Short sellers make $16bn profit from Tesla’s share price plunge (FT) Howard Lutnick touts Elon Musk’s Starlink for US broadband scheme (FT)
