Reading Room

ADT Q3 2026 results; guidance withdrawn pending the Thrive transaction.

Target company press release announcing the definitive agreement.

Acquirer statement on the ADT agreement; source of the ">75 businesses" figure.

Definitive agreement at approximately $7.7 billion enterprise value: about $4.6 billion equity purchase price and $3.1 billion net debt. Expected close Q1 2027.

Announces an October 10 London event with Anthropic, ElevenLabs, General Catalyst, and EQT as partners; challenges focus on messy operating cases and escalation.

Announced September 1, 2026, from Salem, Utah. Current announced that Preferred CFO joined the platform. Based in the greater Salt Lake City metro area, Preferred CFO provides fractional CFO, controller, outsourced accounting, strategic finance, and capital-raising support to businesses nationwide, and has operated for more than a decade, with the firm dating its founding to 2013. Its work covers forecasting and financial modeling, cash flow management, budgets and operating plans, capital preparation and raises, and strengthening controller functions. Current framed the addition as advancing its strategy to build one of the country's leading advisory organizations and as a milestone in its national expansion, positioning the combination of experienced professionals, modern technology, specialized expertise, and strategic advisory as the direction of the profession. Preferred CFO said clients should expect near-term continuity with the same professionals, while joining Current gives the firm access to broader technology, AI systems, national resources, and collaboration across the network. Existing client relationships, local leadership, and culture are retained.

Reports over $2 billion in new capital at a $12 billion valuation, over $3 billion raised since inception, and more than 70 businesses. Announces expansion into built-environment services.

Announces a $35 million Series B led by The General Partnership and Allen Shim joining as president/CFO. Describes a permanent holdco with embedded technologists.

Reports nearly $70 million committed equity, a first closed acquisition, and work with ten agencies before acquisition. Describes a specialty brokerage growth platform.

Announced July 9, 2026, from Somerset, New Jersey. RRBB announced its fifth tuck-in acquisition since joining Current in August 2023, growing from roughly $20 million in revenue at the time it joined to a $44 million platform. RRBB was Current's first partner firm. Two months after joining, it added Mendonca & Partners Certified Public Accountants LLC, an international tax firm in Union, New Jersey with import/export expertise and approximately $8 million in revenue. The release frames RRBB as a pioneer within the network, presenting its sequence of tuck-ins as a repeatable model combining integration, technology enablement, access to capital, and global service delivery to drive both inorganic and organic growth. RRBB offers accounting, advisory, and consulting services from offices in New Jersey and New York. Current, founded by Jake Sloane and Frank Zhang and backed by Thrive Holdings, is described as a national partnership of more than 30 accounting and advisory firms built on local leadership and entrepreneurial autonomy, and was named to Accounting Today's list of best firms for technology.

Confirms the rename and continuity of the accounting platform. Describes local ownership, branding, leadership, and the Tax AI initiative.

Announced May 4, 2026. Long Lake Management agreed to acquire American Express Global Business Travel in an all-cash take-private valued at approximately $6.3 billion, with support from General Catalyst and Alpha Wave; Koch Equity Development was also reported in the syndicate. Shareholders receive $9.50 per share, a 60.2 percent premium to the May 1 closing price. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2026, subject to customary conditions and regulatory clearances. American Express is selling its roughly 30 percent stake for $1.5 billion and expects to record a pre-tax gain of about $975 million; its brand license and other commercial agreements with Amex GBT remain in place. Paul Abbott is chief executive of Amex GBT, which operates in more than 140 countries. Ken Chenault, General Catalyst chairman and former American Express chief executive, commented on the deal. Long Lake was founded in 2023.

Announced January 28, 2026, from Irvine, California. Force 10 Partners, a national financial advisory firm specializing in corporate restructuring and litigation support, joined Crete Professionals Alliance, extending Crete's advisory capabilities into restructuring. Force 10 serves debtors, secured creditors, creditors' committees, and fiduciaries in restructuring, bankruptcy, and dispute-driven matters, with practice areas spanning turnaround management, fiduciary engagements, valuation, forensic accounting, and complex litigation support across consumer, healthcare, financial services, technology, and real estate. The firm said it sought a partner able to support its next phase of expansion without compromising independence, culture, or technical rigor. Through the alliance, Force 10 gains access to long-term capital and operational resources to expand its team, deepen specialized capabilities, and invest in infrastructure for larger engagements. It continues to operate under its own brand, with Force Ten Advisors, LLC as its operating entity and its existing leadership and professionals in place. Steve Stagner, chief executive of Crete, framed the addition as reflecting a market shift toward more specialized, outcome-driven services.

Announced December 1, 2025. OpenAI took an undisclosed ownership stake in Thrive Holdings, the acquisition and operating vehicle launched in April 2025 by Thrive Capital, itself one of OpenAI's major investors. Rather than paying cash, OpenAI contributes embedded research, product, and engineering teams plus platform access in exchange for equity, with reporting indicating its stake grows if the portfolio companies succeed. The work begins with accounting and IT services, chosen for high-volume, rules-driven, workflow-heavy operations and aging operational infrastructure, with the stated intent of producing a repeatable model extensible to other industries. Brad Lightcap, OpenAI's chief operating officer, and Joshua Kushner, founder and chief executive of Thrive Capital and Thrive Holdings, both commented. Financial terms were not disclosed. OpenAI was valued at roughly $500 billion at the time and had recently taken stakes in AMD and CoreWeave; press coverage characterized the arrangement as another circular deal, a framing a Thrive Holdings spokesperson disputed, pointing to organic demand at portfolio companies including the accounting firm Crete. Thrive Holdings later raised $2 billion at a $12 billion valuation in August 2026.

Announces joint research, engineering, and operating work, with OpenAI becoming an owner of Thrive Holdings.

A Luma event listing, not an article. Poker Night hosted by Sequence Holdings at 300 Vesey Street, suite 1230, New York, on Wednesday, October 15, 2025 at 7:15pm, with guests asked to meet in the lobby. The listing describes an open, casual evening of cards, wine and cocktails, and catered food, states that non-players are welcome and will be taught the basics, and carries no buy-in, stakes, agenda, or speaker information. Registration was required. The page is now marked as a past event. The same listing was also posted on Partiful.

Announced June 18, 2025, from Singapore. Multiplier Holdings publicly launched with $27.5 million in seed and Series A funding. The Series A was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with Ribbit Capital, which had led the seed, plus EDBI and SV Angel participating. The model is to acquire specialized professional services firms — tax and accounting practices in particular — and integrate custom AI automation, using an in-house library of AI and workflow components configured to each acquired firm. Multiplier states that portfolio firms keep operational independence while incentives are aligned across Multiplier leadership, firm leaders, and staff, producing what it calls hybrid technology firms. The release cited a global professional services market above $6 trillion and a forecast 11.2 percent CAGR in tax advisory services. Noah Pepper is chief executive. Multiplier subsequently raised a $35 million Series B led by The General Partnership in August 2026, with Ribbit and Lightspeed participating, and hired former Slack CFO Allen Shim as president and CFO.

Introduces a permanent-capital vehicle to invest in, acquire, and operate businesses over long periods.