Connor O'Brien

Staff Editor, Opinion, Sainteur

Writes in Exclusive and Opinion. The team

Latest stories

• Upwind reportedly rejects Datadog's offer because it only matched what its VCs said it was worth

  Datadog reportedly offered no premium over the price Upwind's own venture backers had just set. So the backers invested at it instead.

  Exclusive · Oct 29, 2026, 11:35 PM EDT · Connor O'Brien

• Frontier's 71% fare jump shows what 'budget' means once Spirit is gone

  Frontier's fare revenue per passenger jumped from $39.74 to $67.82 and passengers still rose 18%. Fuel is a real excuse, but the quarter shows a budget airline finding pricing power.

  Opinion · Oct 28, 2026, 1:25 PM EDT · Connor O'Brien

• Whirlpool fixes falling demand with its favorite appliance: the price increase

  Whirlpool now expects a full-year 2026 GAAP loss of $4.95 a share, down from August's guidance of $2.25 to $2.75 a share in GAAP earnings. Its plan: a 7% price increase in North America and up to 10% in Latin America.

  Exclusive · Oct 27, 2026, 3:45 PM EDT · Connor O'Brien

• GM's move to Nasdaq changes its address, not its business

  General Motors is expected to trade on Nasdaq from Nov. 17 and gains eligibility for the Nasdaq-100. Index access is real, but a listing venue doesn't make a carmaker a tech company.

  Opinion · Oct 27, 2026, 1:25 PM EDT · Connor O'Brien

• NBA signs a prediction-market integrity pact that, per its own text, binds no one

  The league's Oct. 26 deals give Kalshi and Polymarket NBA marketing rights. Its memorandum with the CFTC creates no legally binding obligations and leaves information sharing to each side's discretion.

  Exclusive · Oct 26, 2026, 3:50 PM EDT · Connor O'Brien

• Private equity's defense tech rush is a bet on the next buyer, not the battlefield

  Buyout firms poured $4 billion into defense growth deals in nine months, per PitchBook. The money is real, but the trade only works if a later buyer pays up for promise.

  Opinion · Oct 26, 2026, 12:55 PM EDT · Connor O'Brien

• Coinbase launches its 15-minute crypto bets again, still settles them on a minute you didn't watch

  The up-or-down contracts pay $1 or $0, and per Vertex Analytics they settle on a 60-second index average, not the last tick on your screen.

  Exclusive · Oct 25, 2026, 3:40 PM EDT · Connor O'Brien

• Trade Desk's CEO shouldn't get to vote himself a cheaper strike price

  Resetting underwater options for 2,300 employees after layoffs has a real case. Letting Jeff Green's 50.2% of the vote decide a repricing that also covers his own options doesn't.

  Opinion · Oct 25, 2026, 1:00 PM EDT · Connor O'Brien

• White House tariff desk takes back Canada's plywood, issues store credit in carpets

  A senator returned some Canadian goods for a home-state win. Within the hour, the clerk had swapped in valves, carpets and waste products.

  Exclusive · Oct 24, 2026, 3:30 PM EDT · Connor O'Brien

• Gold didn't break as a haven. It got sold for cash as hike bets rose

  Gold fell below $4,000 as markets priced a 78% chance of a December hike and margin calls hit. In my view that's gold working as cash, and the real story is the Fed's bind.

  Opinion · Oct 24, 2026, 12:45 PM EDT · Connor O'Brien

• The credit market just got a vote on AI, and Meta handed shareholders the bill

  Opinion: Meta's free cash flow turned negative and its default swaps hit a record. Its funding plan, a non-voting share class it says helps avoid debt, shows who now gets a say in AI spending.

  Opinion · Oct 24, 2026, 12:15 AM EDT · Connor O'Brien

• Same $1 billion completes another lap of the billionaire carousel

  Elon Musk reportedly put about $1 billion into the Ellisons' Skydance. Larry Ellison once put $1 billion into Musk's Twitter deal. A top hat is keeping count.

  Exclusive · Oct 24, 2026, 12:05 AM EDT · Connor O'Brien