Major M&A and Capital Deals Surge in Early August with Visa, Apollo, and Polymarket

M&A/IPO | Wed Aug 05 2026 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) | 7 sources

A wave of major deals closed including Visa's BioCatch acquisition, Apollo's Starwood REIT joint venture, and Polymarket's mega funding round.

Analysis

[Visa] acquired BioCatch for $2.4 billion ^[2]

• Acquisition of fraud prevention intelligence company BioCatch
• Deal size approximately $2.4 billion
• Strengthening cybersecurity offerings

[Apollo Global Management] signed $1 billion joint venture with Starwood REIT ^[1]

• Apollo investing $1.02 billion in SREIT joint venture
• SREIT is a commercial real estate vehicle that has struggled with investor redemptions

[Polymarket] in talks for funding round at over $20 billion valuation ^[6]

• Prediction market platform in discussions for valuation exceeding $20 billion
• Annualized revenue surpassing $1 billion since launch of U.S. regulated exchange in May
• Closed funding at $15 billion valuation in April
• Competitor Kalshi pursuing additional fundraising targeting $40 billion valuation after $22 billion round

[Jeff Bezos / Amazon] filed to sell $4 billion in Amazon shares ^[4][7]

• SEC filing for plan to sell approximately 15 million shares totaling $4.1 billion
• Disposal pursuant to Rule 10b5-1 pre-trading plan adopted in November 2025
• Sale immediately after Amazon's market cap surpassed $3 trillion and hit all-time high
• Amazon stock dropped over 2% following the filing

[GameStop] exchanged $1.4 billion in convertible notes for stock ^[3]

• Exchanged $1.4 billion worth of convertible notes for shares

[Paramount Skydance] raised annual guidance and reaffirmed WBD merger pursuit ^[5]

• Raised 2026 adjusted EBITDA guidance to $3.8-3.9 billion
• Targeting $3 billion in cost savings from Paramount-Skydance merger synergies
• Paramount+ added 2 million net subscribers in the quarter
• reaching 81.6 million total subscribers
• Reaffirmed confidence in completing Warner Bros. Discovery merger
• Merger closing deadline extended to June 2027 due to state attorney general antitrust lawsuits

Sources

• [1] Apollo Invests $1 Billion in Joint Venture With Starwood REIT - Bloomberg Markets
• [2] Visa beefs up cybersecurity offerings with $2.4 billion BioCatch deal - Yahoo Finance
• [3] GameStop exchanges $1.4 billion in convertible notes for stock - Yahoo Finance
• [4] Jeff Bezos just filed to sell $4 billion in Amazon. The shares are falling - CNBC Investing
• [5] Paramount Skydance raises full-year profit guidance, remains 'confident' about WBD merger - CNBC Earnings
• [6] Polymarket in talks for fundraising round at more than $20 billion valuation - CNBC Finance
• [7] Jeff Bezos just filed to sell $4 billion in Amazon. The shares are falling - CNBC Finance