Alternative Investing Report - January 26, 2026

*as of 1/25, Sources: S&P, BTC, FTSE, DJRE, GOLD

The Chinese owner of TikTok, ByteDance, reached a deal last week to sell its U.S. operations to avoid a government-mandated ban that has been delayed multiple times. The new U.S. TikTok operation will be jointly owned by Oracle and the investment firms Silver Lake and MGX, with ByteDance holding on to a 19.9% stake. The all-important TikTok algorithm will still be owned by ByteDance, with the company leasing it out to the new U.S. platform.

➨ TAKEAWAY: The odyssey of TikTok’s ownership seems to be finally coming to an end, though there are still concerns that ByteDance owns a stake, and that the social media platform can still be manipulated by Chinese actors or the new owners, which includes Abu Dhabi-based MGC. The U.S. TikTok has been reportedly valued at $14 billion, a small percentage of ByteDance’s current valuation of close to $500 billion, making it one of the largest private companies in the world.

In this mini-episode of Smart Humans, Vincent co-founders Slava Rubin and Adam Katz analyze the current state of the real estate market, mortgage rates, and investment strategies, and talk about which markets thhey are bullish or bearish about in the coming year.

🪙 Bitgo IPO: The crypto custody and security services company went public on Thursday at $18 per share and a $2 billion valuation, and shares quickly spiked to $24 per share before falling back to $18. By market close on Friday, the price had dropped by an additional 22% to $14.50 per share, not a promising sign for other crypto startups looking to go public.

🤖 Humans& fundraise: A new AI startup founded by former Anthropic, Google, and xAI employees raised an enormous $480 million seed stage round at a $4.48 billion valuation, with investment from Nvidia, Jeff Bezos, and others.

🚀 Corporate investment in defense tech: Global corporate investment in defense startups hit $2 billion last year, nearly double the previous record-high from 2022, as the sector also attracted a record amount of VC capital.

📊 PCE inflation report: The Fed’s preferred measure of inflation, the PCE index, showed inflation up 0.2% in October and November, with an annual increase of 2.8%, still above the 2% target but in line with expectations.

🏢 Multifamily outlook: Apartment rent growth is projected to be around 2% nationwide this year, but with stark differences between regions, as a slowdown in supply growth could push rents higher in the Northeast and Midwest.

📜 U.S.’s 250th birthday auction: In advance of the U.S.’s semiquincentennial this July 4th, Christie’s is holding an auction of historical documents on Friday, including a 1776 broadside printing of the Declaration of Independence that is estimated to sell for $3 million - $5 million.

This week: Four of the Magnificent Seven (Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Tesla) companies will release their quarterly earnings results.

Today: Americans can start filing their 2025 income taxes electronically.

Tuesday: Consumer confidence index released.

Wednesday: The Federal Reserve will announce its interest rate decision, which is widely expected to be no change.

Friday: The deadline for Congress to pass funding bills to avoid a government shutdown; Heritage Auctions’ Winter Sports Card Catalog auction, featuring a pair of Babe Ruth cards expected to sell for more than $250,000 each.