Nobody saw any of this coming. Not a single one of these headlines would have been believable 12 months ago!

All four of these stories happened this weekend… and all of them matter for your portfolio.

The market doesn't reward people who predict the future. It rewards people who react to the present faster than everyone else. So let's react.

This is not financial advice. Always do your own research. Past performance doesn’t guarantee future results.

Today’s sponsor:

GameStop submitted an unsolicited offer to acquire eBay for $125 per share in a cash-and-stock deal, valuing the e-commerce platform at roughly $56 billion. Ryan Cohen said the combined company could create a "legit competitor" to Amazon, with GameStop's roughly 1,600 US retail locations serving as a national network for authentication, fulfillment, and live commerce.

The math is wild. GameStop's market cap is a fraction of the deal size. They've lined up $20 billion in financing from TD Securities and would tap their $9.4 billion cash pile for the rest, plus issue additional shares. eBay stock surged 9% in premarket trading but still traded below the $125 offer price, which tells you the market isn't convinced this deal closes.

Cohen hasn't even started a conversation with eBay's management yet. He said "we are just starting." This could be a serious acquisition or a very expensive opening gambit. Either way, the meme stock era just graduated to something nobody expected.

Trump announced Sunday that the U.S. will launch a military operation called "Project Freedom" starting Monday morning to guide stranded ships out of the Strait of Hormuz. The strait has been effectively closed since the Iran war began on February 28, trapping hundreds of vessels and roughly 20,000 seafarers.

CENTCOM said the operation will involve guided-missile destroyers, over 100 aircraft, and 15,000 service members. Trump framed it as a humanitarian gesture for "neutral and innocent" countries whose ships are stuck, but warned that any interference "will have to be dealt with forcefully."

Iran immediately called the move a ceasefire violation. The head of Iran's national security commission said any interference in the strait would be treated as such. Two cargo ships near the strait reported attacks on Sunday, a reminder of how volatile this situation is.

For investors: this is still the single biggest variable in energy markets right now. About a fifth of the world's oil and natural gas trade normally passes through this strait. If Project Freedom works and shipping resumes, oil prices come down and that pressure on airlines, consumer goods, and inflation eases. If Iran escalates, the opposite happens. Watch oil futures Monday morning.

Spirit Airlines shut down at 3 AM Saturday after talks for a $500 million White House bailout collapsed. All flights were canceled. Customer service went offline. 17,000 workers lost their jobs. It's the first major US airline to go out of business in 25 years.

The company had reached a deal with creditors in February to emerge from its second bankruptcy since 2024. Then the Iran war started three days later. Jet fuel prices doubled. The DOJ had already blocked Spirit's $3.8 billion sale to JetBlue in 2024, and bigger airlines had adopted Spirit's own ultra-low-cost playbook, erasing its competitive advantage.

Practical impact: Spirit flew routes that kept fares low for everyone, even people who never flew Spirit. William McGee of the American Economic Liberties Project predicted that "everyone will be paying more" on those routes now. United, Frontier, American, Southwest, and JetBlue are capping fares temporarily to help stranded travelers, but the long-term effect is less competition and higher prices. If you own airline stocks, this is net positive for the survivors.

Greg Abel ran the Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting on Saturday for the first time since he took over as CEO in January. The early reviews: solid.

Abel opened with a near hour-long presentation walking through Berkshire's major businesses, something Buffett never did. He spoke about exploring AI-driven tools at BNSF Railway and discussed large language models fluently. The crowd was noticeably smaller (roughly 12,000 of 18,000 seats filled versus the usual packed arena), and Berkshire's profits doubled in Q1.

Buffett took the mic briefly to say "Greg is doing everything I did and then some." Abel stressed continuity with Buffett's legacy.

The takeaway for investors: the post-Buffett era has officially begun, and so far, it looks calm. Abel's willingness to talk about AI and technology signals a Berkshire that's evolving, not just preserving. Worth watching.

This week is loaded. Here's what matters.

The ones we're watching most closely: AMD on Tuesday tells you whether the AI hardware buildout is still accelerating. Palantir on Monday is the AI software/government play. AppLovin and CoreWeave on Wednesday are two of the most polarizing AI-adjacent names in the market right now. And Friday's jobs report will shape the rate cut narrative heading into Kevin Warsh's confirmation as the new Fed chair.

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Cheers,
Brandon & Blake of Invested Inc