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- [00:01]
Coinshares Narrator
For years, the conversation around Bitcoin was the same Is it real and does it belong in a portfolio? While others debated, Coinshares got to work. In 2015, they launched the world's first Bitcoin ETP, regulated, listed and built for institutional investors long before the US market caught up. Today, they manage over $6 billion in assets and have remained profitable through every market cycle, including the 2022 downturn. What sets them apart? They're not a crypto exchange chasing trading fees, not a company betting its balance sheet on Bitcoin, not a mining operation. Coinshares is an asset manager with recurring fees, a fixed cost base and a business model you can actually model, now listed on NASDAQ under ticker CSHR. Learn more at coinsharesipo.com.
- [00:52]
Host/Anchor
You.
- [00:57]
Neil Seitz
The thing about AI for business? It may not automatically fit the way your business works. At IBM, we've seen this firsthand. But by embedding AI across hr, IT and procurement processes, we've reduced costs by millions, slash repetitive tasks, and freed thousands of hours for strategic work. Now we're helping companies get smarter by putting AI where it actually pays off, deep in the work that moves the business. Let's create smarter business IBM when you're
- [01:27]
Host/Anchor
running a business, the best days are the ones where priorities stay on track. For midsize and large companies, that isn't always easy. Risk can touch multiple parts of an organization at the same time, often in ways that aren't immediately obvious. It might involve property liability or cyber. It could stem from regulatory requirements or challenges tied to a specific industry or the scale of an operation. At that level, managing risk becomes an ongoing discipline, not a one time decision. At the Hartford, the focus is on helping businesses manage risk before it turns into something more disruptive. That means working with companies to identify where they're exposed, decide what matters most, and put practical standards in place so risk is managed as part of day to day operations. And when losses do happen, the Hartford compare the that risk control work with insurance coverage grounded in underwriting, risk engineering and claims experience developed over time. Learn more@thehartfor.com riskmitigation
- [02:27]
Podcast Announcer
Bloomberg Audio Studios Podcasts Radio News. You're listening to the Bloomberg Intelligence Podcast. Catch us live weekdays at 10am Eastern on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app. Listen on demand wherever you get your podcast us or watch us live on
- [02:47]
Bloomberg Host
YouTube, we want to first talk a little bit about an IPO that's coming up later this month. Bill Ackman, the billionaire investor has kicked off formal marketing for the ipo of his closed end fund and his hedge fund. And this is something bailey lipschultz has been covering for us here as our initial public offering.
- [03:06]
Cassie Hallberg
Reporter.
- [03:07]
Bloomberg Host
Billy, this is not bill ackman's first go round with an ipo for his hedge fund and his closed end fund, is it?
- [03:14]
Bailey Lipschultz
No, it's not. And really, when you look at how this has been playing out. And kind of the mission that they've been attempting to kind of achieve, you go back to 2024, when he set out to raise $25 billion, then cut it to 2 billion, and ultimately pulled the plug on that. This is now a kind of reinvigorated, rethought out strategy. Where he will raise money between 5 and $10 billion for the closed end fund. And if you participate in that, you get a stake. And pershing square proper. So trying to incentivize to get this deal across the finish line. Something that they were not successful doing, Call it two years ago.
- [03:49]
Host/Anchor
Why is he doing it and why is he doing it now?
- [03:50]
Bailey Lipschultz
Billy, he's doing it to bolster assets under management. So he has a fund listed in europe. You generate fees, no matter what, off a closed end fund. It's not like an etf where you can face some of the redemption issues. So bolstering their A1, bolstering the fees that they're going to generate from this product, among others, reason to go public. This has been something they've talked about for quite some time. So it kind of is a litmus test, if you will. There's obviously been a lot of debate. Why do people go public? What do they want to achieve? At least from the pitch for pershing square Is to try to bring potential wealth to retail investors. But certainly a bit of the skeptics see this kind of similar to some of the other strategies We've seen the likes of a carlyle or kkr take over the last decade or so.
- [04:34]
Bloomberg Host
And billy, just remind us of how bill ackman's strategy has shifted over the years. Because once upon a time, he was a big activist investor in. And he's kind of morphed into more trying to be like a warren buffett, you know, taking these big stakes in other companies for long term investments. Walk us through what that has looked like.
- [04:52]
Bailey Lipschultz
Yeah, it's been a big shift. To your point. We all remember herbalife in the back and forth between ackman and icahn. And now if you look at the holdings, Whether it's in his fund or in the european listed Closed end fund. We're talking about some positions in some pretty big companies. You've got Amazon.com, howard Hughes, Google, Uber, Meta, some of the bigger names. Obviously he's been very vocal about Fannie and Freddie and trying to bring them both public and obviously would benefit from that. So when you look at kind of the development of his career, he very much has leaned into trying to be able to turn Pershing Square into a modern version of Berkshire Hathaway. And interestingly enough, obviously Buffett has stepped away from Berkshire. So now maybe is this a perfect time, at least from the Ackman camp, to step into that spotlight and be kind of a person who can be an investor that folks look at as a North Star? Obviously it remains to be seen and this will be a key test of that. But to your point, we've seen a big shift.
- [05:48]
Host/Anchor
So Bailey, what's the expectation here for this offering? Is this going to be a retail LED type of offering or is this have a lot of institutional demand? What do we know?
- [05:56]
Bailey Lipschultz
It'll be retail led. They've laid out that they have a good chunk, a few billion dollars kind of earmarked for institutional investors, family offices and kind of that like. But the big pitch really is for this to be raised predominantly, again, maybe not predominantly $2.8 billion secured from qualified investors according to Pershing Square, but it is catering to retail investors. And that's why you're seeing it take such a long roadshow. Launching today, expected to Price on April 28, you typically would see in a normal roadshow about seven to eight days. This is more than two weeks. And the big pitch is being able to interact with the retail investing crowd, much like they tried to do a few years ago and trying to get people to agree that this is a good investment for them. But if you've paid attention to Bill Ackman in kind of his ventures and adventures, if you will, on X and Twitter, very much trying to lean into the average investor. And that was something they pitched again back in 2024, trying to build Pershing into something similar to Berkshire Hathaway where they would have, you know, a carnival esque event every year where people could, who are investing in the fund could actually be able to meet and interact with management.
- [07:01]
Bloomberg Host
And Bailey, so far, no indication that the uncertainty, the geopolitics of it is going to put him off in terms of pursuing this ipo?
- [07:09]
Bailey Lipschultz
No. And they marched forward and I think that was one of the things I can't remember if Ackman put it on X or said it in a podcast or something was kind of pitching that, well, you know, the time to deploy assets is when markets are pulling back and this actually fits into the strategy in the kind of broader scheme of what they want to do. And again, just trying to simplify the fact that at least from the Pershing Square corner and the Pershing Square camp, if you launch this deal and do have a longer roadshow, you know that there is uncertainty and there is a lot of kind of issues with the geopolitical backdrop, but they're continuing to push forward on that. Ultimately, what does this look like? We'll continue to keep an eye on that over the next two weeks. But again, it'll be key to see how this prices and what they actually bring in House on April 28th because just a few weeks ago in March, Robinhood Ventures tried to raise $1 billion for a closed end fund and fell about short of their target. So certainly not the layup that many people might have thought.
- [08:04]
Bloomberg Host
Stay with us. More from Bloomberg Intelligence coming up after this.
- [08:10]
Coinshares Narrator
For years, the conversation around Bitcoin was the same. Is it real and does it belong in a portfolio? While others debated, Coinshares got to work. In 2015, they launched the world's first Bitcoin ETP, regulated, listed and built for institutional investors long before the US market caught up. Today, they manage over $6 billion in assets and have remained profitable through every market cycle, including the 2022 downturn. What sets them apart? They're not a crypto exchange chasing trading fees. Not a company betting its balance sheet on bitcoin, not a mining operation. Coinshares is an asset manager with recurring fees, a fixed cost base, and a business model you can actually model now listed on NASDAQ under ticker CSHR. Learn more at coinsharesipo.com.
- [09:05]
Adobe/Microsoft Advertiser
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- [09:42]
Host/Anchor
for the show comes from public. Lately it feels like there are two types of investing platforms. Some are traditional brokerages that haven't changed much in decades and others feel less like investing and more like a game. Public is positioned differently. It's an investing platform for people who are serious about building their wealth on public. You can build a portfolio of stocks, options, bonds, crypto without all the bugs or the confetti. Retirement accounts? Yep. High yield cash? Yes again. They even have direct indexing. Public has modern design, powerful tools and customer support that actually helps go to public.com market and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com market ad paid for by Public Holdings Brokerage services by Public Investing Member FINRA SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors SEC Registered Advisor Crypto Services by ZeroHash. All investing involves risk of loss. See complete disclosures@public.com disclosures.
- [10:43]
Podcast Announcer
You're listening to the Bloomberg Intelligence Podcast. Catch us live weekdays at 10am Eastern on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app. Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts or watch us live on YouTube.
- [10:57]
Host/Anchor
A lot of geopolitics on the front burner, of course, but it is still earnings season right now we got the big banks kicking off earnings today. Goldman Sachs put out some numbers here. I thought the numbers I'm an equities guy, so I looked at their equity line first and they just cracked, rushed it a little bit light relative to expectations on the fixed side, the fixed income side. But those are bond people, you know, who really cares. But anyway, it's a big business. It's a big business. But let's check in with Neil Seitz. He covers his stuff for Bloomberg Intelligence. Neil, talk to us about Goldman Sachs and the quarter they just released.
- [11:27]
Neil Seitz
Yeah, so I think the general broad strokes is that the core capital markets business is firing right as we sort of entered this quarter, this quarter's results, we obviously saw markets in flux, right. And obviously plenty of uncertainty down the pike here. But ultimately a lot of volatility in the quarter, particularly in equities and fixed income products, mostly geared towards the later quarter. And so there was sort of a high bar coming into these results in expectations for a trading led sort of beat. And frankly we saw that really come through in the equities business. Now on fixed income, that's where the bigger miss has sort of overshadowed strength in other categories for Goldman. And so, you know, a lot of that relates to specific products. Obviously when you have volatility, it's not always perfectly positive volatility for the trading business. So a little bit of sort of, you know, mix within that and Then when you look at the investment banking business, I mean M and A, ecm, debt fees, all of those beat expectations. That was a big story heading into 2026 was the expectation for capital markets for debt issuance, equity issuance, particularly IPOs and M&A to come back firing. The first quarter was solid. The backlog has dipped a little bit from a four year high in the prior quarter. So coming off a little bit, part of that is due to when you have such strong results, things come out of the backlog. But I think the bigger question as we move forward is with the elevated volatility that's positive to trading, that tends to be not so helpful for the investment banking side. So how are clients transacting early in the second quarter is a key question. And Goldman says they remain engaged.
- [13:11]
Bloomberg Host
So when it comes to that surprise drop in fixed income trading, do we think that that's Goldman specific or is that something that could have a read through to the other big banks?
- [13:20]
Neil Seitz
Yeah, I think that's what we're sort of going to be looking very closely at. It feels, feels that it could be a little bit unique to Goldman. Again it depends on the actual positioning within this business. When you look at some of the other large peers in the space, JP Morgan, bank of America, Citigroup, they all sort of guided to mid teens growth across the trading business for the first quarter and that guidance came in early mid March. So the expectation is, you know, this could be a Goldman unique scenario where fixed income trading revenue was particularly weak. But we'll have to watch, right? I mean again volatility tends to be positive for the trading business but it's not a perfect relationship. And so we'll have to be watching, particularly given the sort of high bar and the expectations coming in that trading was going to be so strong.
- [14:10]
Host/Anchor
Hey Neil, I'm thinking about 2026 could be just a monster, monster year for IPOs here. I'm thinking Space X, maybe some of these AI names like Anthropic. What are some of the big investment banks saying about that opportunity?
- [14:24]
Neil Seitz
Yeah, and I think that is, that is a big opportunity in the offing, Right. I think a lot of it now relates to, okay, these IPOs are coming, what pace will they come? Right? And so are these 2026 stories, are they first half, second half or do things get kicked into 2027? If you know the uncertainty that we're living through today prolongs and it sort of causes sponsors and strategics to sort of put pencils down and sort of reassess that that opportunity. Goldman noted IPOs a little bit softer in March. I don't think that surprises anyone, right. Just given the volatility. I think they remain bullish moving forward on that business. So I think it's just going to be a timing question of rather when, not necessarily if. But of course, you know, plenty of uncertainty still out there. So that remains the big question.
- [15:15]
Bloomberg Host
Has David Solomon, the CEO, said anything about the geopolitical uncertainty, the war in Iran and what that means for business prospects overall?
- [15:24]
Neil Seitz
Yeah, I think he has hinted at that sort of that same sentiment right where the volatility keeps clients engaged. So it's again positive to the trading as you think about how you have to have institutional clients have to reposition or allocate for a much wider range of outcomes and scenarios. When we're sort of going through what we've had with AI, scare trades, software concerns, now war, that all sort of creates a pretty good backdrop for the intermediation type business. When we have markets that, you know, frankly are still only a handful of percent off of all time highs that's really strong for the financing business that Goldman's and growing in. That was a really bright spot for the equities business in the first quarter. They're continuing to deploy balance sheet into that business so they see an opportunity to sort of lean in to client needs and client demands in this environment, albeit cautioning that, you know, there's a big uncertainty piece out there.
- [16:22]
Host/Anchor
Neal, thanks so much. Really appreciate it. Neil Sykes, he covers all the big banks for an investment banks for Bloomberg Intelligence. We appreciate getting some of his. Stay with us. More from Bloomberg Intelligence coming up after this.
- [16:37]
Adobe/Microsoft Advertiser
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- [17:14]
Host/Anchor
Support for the show comes from public. Lately it feels like there are two types of investing platforms. Some are traditional brokerages that haven't changed much in decades and others feel less like investing and more like a game. Public is positioned differently. It's an investing platform for people who are serious about building their wealth on Public you can build a portfolio of stocks, options, bonds, crypto without all the bugs or the confetti. Retirement accounts? Yep. High yield cash? Yes again. They even have direct indexing. Public has modern design, powerful tools and customer support that actually helps go to public.com market and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com market ad paid for by Public Holdings Brokerage Services by Public Investing Member FINRA SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors SEC Registered Advisor crypto services by ZeroHash all investing involves risk of loss. See complete disclosures@public.com disclosures small businesses are
- [18:14]
Bloomberg Host
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- [19:16]
Podcast Announcer
You're listening to the Bloomberg Intelligence Podcast. Catch us live weekdays at 10am Eastern on app CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app Listen on demand. Wherever you get your podcasts or watch us live on YouTube, we're back here
- [19:31]
Host/Anchor
on site at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, New Jersey. Our first guest on site, which is very cool, Cassie Hallberg joins us. She's the CEO of NJIT backed startup Pure Trace Labs. Cassie, thanks so much for being with us. Looking at the backgrounds and the reading material that Scarlett and I have for all of our guests today and one theme runs through it and I don't know what that theme is, but that theme is pfas. Can you tell us what PFAS is or are?
- [20:00]
Cassie Hallberg
Absolutely. So PFAS is sometimes referred to as Forever Chemicals. They were crazy useful chemicals that were developed after World War II because they are water resistant and heat resistant. So you may know them from your nonstick cookware or from your Rainproof rainwear. The problem that we've got with PFAS is that they have gotten out into the environment and they've gotten into the American's bloodstream. So 98% of Americans have in our bloodstream. And unfortunately, it is associated with health conditions such as cancer, birth defects, infertility, even high cholesterol. And one of the things that we're trying to understand is how do we do a better job of locating it. And other companies are also working on how do you do a better job of destroying this? Because the chemical bonds are very strong and they've proven very, very persistent in our environment.
- [20:54]
Bloomberg Host
Okay, so talk us through what Pure Trace Labs that you are CEO of does when it comes to PFAs.
- [21:00]
Cassie Hallberg
Absolutely. So one of the challenges with PFAS has been testing for them. Our current methodology for testing takes two to three weeks, is very labor intensive. So it's very expensive. It costs anywhere from 500 to $800. And that means that for the average homeowner, like you can't test your own water, even though the EPA believes that up to half of Americans have PFAS in our water. And so that's basically created a problem. So what Pure Trace Lab has been able to do through a Wonderful Invention by Dr. Hao Chen is use mass spectrometry and paper spray, mass spectrometry, to be precise, in order to test for PFAs. And he can do it in under three minutes and with very little labor. And so we can do it at a fraction of the cost. So we like to say we can do it in minutes versus weeks, and we can do it at a third of the cost of what the current methodologies are.
- [22:00]
Host/Anchor
So what is the market here for any type of PFAS detection treatment? Is it something that would be done at the consumer level or the industrial level? Is this like just doing a radon test that I have to do for my when I buy my home in New Jersey?
- [22:14]
Cassie Hallberg
I love the analogy with radon because it's one we use often. So, yes, the answer is yes. Industry needs it because they need to be checking that it's not in our consumer packaging. The municipalities need to be doing it to make sure it's not in our water. Our farmers need to be doing it to make sure it's not in their soil. Because if it's in the soil, it's going to get into the food supply. So, you know, what we're doing and focusing in on is taking a first little bite, which is, can we bring this to the homeowner market. We know that just under half of all households in America have pfas in their water. In New Jersey, we believe that that's up to actually 80, about 84%. So we've got the ability to give homeowners the ability to actually test at a very reasonable price. And then more importantly, to your point about radon, we've got the ability to give it to home inspectors. Traditionally, home inspectors can't wait two to three weeks for a test result. But if we can get them a test result within one to two days, they can put this into the real estate transaction. It doesn't mean you're going to blow up your real estate transaction because there are solutions. So you can. If let's say you've got pfas in your water, there is a solution for all different budgets. You could potentially get a carbon activated water pitcher. You could use a carbon activated water from your refrigerator. You can also go all out with reverse osmosis or even a home filtration system, depending on what your budget is and what you personally can do. But you can do things to remove these from your environment. Okay.
- [23:46]
Bloomberg Host
But first things first, you got to figure out how much is in there. Talk a little bit about the role that NJIT played in helping Dr. Chen, whose technology this is based on, really figure out this technology.
- [23:58]
Cassie Hallberg
Yeah, they were amazing because Dr. Chen walked in and said, I've got this great invention. What do I do? He yelled, eureka. And what NJIT was able to do through their partner NJII was they actually walked out and started doing some business plans and cases. Right. Is this. Is there a big enough market out there that it warrants being able to commercialize this? And if you are going to commercialize it, who are you going to target? Who are you going to target first? And what does that look like? So they basically were able to take the business aspect and marry that with the science. And so many universities. We've got brilliant ideas, but we don't necessarily have professors trained in business. And so what NJIT is doing that's incredibly unique is they're bringing business and they're bringing technology together so that we can get those best ideas out into the marketplace.
- [24:46]
Host/Anchor
30 seconds left. How hard is it to raise money these days?
- [24:50]
Cassie Hallberg
We've been very lucky so far, so we've been able to. We're funded via NJI's investment fund and we will let you know as we find out if we need more money.
- [25:04]
Podcast Announcer
This is the Bloomberg Intelligence podcast, available on Apple, Spotify and anywhere else you get. Your podcasts listen live each weekday 10am to noon Eastern on Bloomberg.com, the iHeartRadio app, TuneIn, and the Bloomberg Business App. You can also watch us live Every weekday on YouTube and always on the Bloomberg Terminal.
- [25:30]
Adobe/Microsoft Advertiser
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- [26:32]
Host/Anchor
leaders, word on the street is security incidents are dropping way down with Windows 11 PCs built in. Security for the win upgrade to Windows 11 Pro at windows means business.com Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile.
- [26:47]
Bailey Lipschultz
I don't know if you knew this,
- [26:48]
Host/Anchor
but anyone can get the same Premium Wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying.
- [26:54]
Cassie Hallberg
It's not just for celebrities.
- [26:55]
Bailey Lipschultz
So do like I did and have
- [26:57]
Neil Seitz
one of your assistants assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today.
- [27:00]
Host/Anchor
I'm told it's super easy to do@mintmobile.com
- [27:03]
Coinshares Narrator
Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month required intro rate first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees, extra fee full terms at mintmobile. Com.