Spirit Airlines is dead, but the finger-pointing is very much alive.

• Trump administration officials spent the weekend blaming former President Biden, whose Justice Department successfully blocked JetBlue from buying Spirit for $3.8 billion.
• Spirit told the White House to look in the mirror, saying its insolvency was sparked by an Iran war that's caused jet fuel prices to spike.

Why it matters: Around 17,000 people just lost their jobs, and thousands of passengers found themselves stranded.

• It's also hard to guard against a future airline failure without a consensus diagnosis for the current one.

Zoom in: Trump and Spirit both have legitimate arguments. It's just that they aren't mutually exclusive.

• Yes, DOJ's antitrust arguments now ring very hollow. It's hard to claim that keeping JetBlue and Spirit apart has preserved low-cost competition when Spirit planes are now parked like yellow school buses at midnight.
• It's also true that jet fuel prices were the straw that broke Spirit's back. Just last week, we wrote about how several European airlines may be at risk for the same reason.

Yes, but: Even if you merge both narratives, there were other contributing factors.

• First, Spirit didn't sufficiently hedge its jet fuel costs. That speaks to poor management, or maybe to being overleveraged. After all, this was Spirit's second bankruptcy in less than a year — and it had been criticized during the JetBlue process for making decisions as if the merger was fait accompli.
• Second, ongoing issues with Pratt & Whitney engines had caused Spirit to ground a bunch of its planes — creating significant losses, despite having reached a settlement.
• Third, Spirit bailed on a merger agreement with Frontier in order to pursue the JetBlue tie-up. It's possible that Biden's DOJ would have let Spirit merge with Frontier, which was significantly smaller than was JetBlue (which already had run into antitrust troubles on its planned partnership with American Airlines).

The bottom line: It's impossible to know if a JetBlue-Spirit merger would have saved Spirit in the long term, or saddled the combined carrier with so much debt that it too would be liquidating as jet fuel prices climb.

GameStop (NYSE: GME) has offered to acquire eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) for around $55 billion in cash and stock.

Why it's the BFD: This felt weird, even by GameStop standards, when news first leaked on Friday. Then it got downright surreal this morning, as GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen either couldn't (or wouldn't) explain basic bid details during a CNBC interview.

By the numbers: GameStop is offering $125 per share, representing a 20% premium to where eBay stock closed on Friday.

• But the math doesn't seem to math, which was the main subject of Cohen's televised intransigence.
• GameStop holds around a 5% stake in eBay, mostly via derivatives, and says it secured a "highly confident letter" from TD Securities to lend up to $20 billion. Its cash pile is around $9 billion, and its market cap is $11 billion.
• One possibility is a giant co-investment. But the most likely investors, Middle Eastern sovereigns, all are belt-tightening due to the Iran war.

Zoom in: eBay acknowledged receipt of the proposal, but Cohen says there's not yet been any engagement.

The bottom line: "Cohen [sees] ways to integrate GameStop's bricks-and-mortar stores with eBay's online operations to help scale both companies." — Lauren Thomas, WSJ

🎵 Suno, a Cambridge, Mass.-based AI music generation startup, is raising Series D funding at a valuation north of $5b, per Axios Pro. It most recently raised $250m at a $2.45b valuation led by Menlo Ventures. axios.link/4eqKrye

🚑 Enzo Health, a Lehi, Utah-based post-acute care startup, raised $20m in Series A funding, per Axios Pro. N47 led, joined by Gradient, Tandem Venture, and Rigby Watts. axios.link/4tP6V0L

🚑 EnteroBiotix, a Scottish developer of microbiome therapies, raised £19m led by Thairm Bio and the Scottish National Investment Bank. axios.link/4eqJ1no

• A-Cube, an Italian tax compliance platform, raised €4m. P101 SGR led, joined by Sella DirectVentures. axios.link/4n7yPSU

• Chance Studios, a trading card collectors app, raised $3.2m. Makers Fund and Hashed led, joined by Arbitrum Gaming Ventures, Gam3Girl Ventures, and Digital Elm. axios.link/3QXzt9D

• Mobility Signage, a German digital infrastructure platform for public transport, raised €1.8m in pre-seed funding. HTG led, joined by 2bX. axios.link/42f7zZj

🚑 Avista Healthcare Partners launched an OTC and skincare acquisition platform called Birchwell Consumer Health. Its first deal is for Bag Balm, a Lyndonville, Vt.-based therapeutic skincare brand. axios.link/4nbgeFN

🚑 Carlyle acquired a majority stake in health care RCM providers Knack RCM and EqualizeRCM. axios.link/4cQcZQI

• Francisco Partners is in talks to buy Moneris, a fintech JV between RBC and BMO that could fetch up to $2b, per the FT. axios.link/4cOYj4j

• Long Lake Capital agreed to acquire the parent of American Express Global Business Travel (NYSE: GBTG) for around $6.3b in cash. Long Lake backers include General Catalyst, Alpha Wave, D1, and Elad Gil. axios.link/49a7xFO

• PlayMetics, a Genstar Capital portfolio company, agreed to buy youth sports app SportsEngine from Versant Media (Nasdaq: VSNT). axios.link/4w5uPGT

• Power Home Remodeling, an exterior home remodeler, secured growth capital from Bain Capital, Sixth Street, and Harvest Partners Structured Capital. powerhrg.com

• Searchlight Capital agreed to invest in London-based trade show organizer CloserStill Media, which would give Searchlight joint control with existing backer Providence Equity Partners. axios.link/3QDHII5

HawkEye 360 and Suja Life both are expected to price U.S. IPOs this week.

• Blackstone Digital Infrastructure Trust, a new REIT focused on data centers leased to hyperscalers, set IPO terms to 87.5m shares at $20. It plans to list on the NYSE (BXDC). axios.link/4tZIj5t

• Cerebras Systems, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based AI chipmaker, set IPO terms to 28m shares at $115-$125. It would have a $25.56b market cap, were it to price in the middle, and plans to list on the Nasdaq (CBRS). Cerebras reports $238m of net income on $510m of revenue for 2025, and had raised around $3b from firms like Alpha Wave, Benchmark, Eclipse, Fidelity, and Foundation Capital. axios.link/4ulIEz5

🚑 EQT hired banks to explore options for Danish hearing aid maker WS Audiology, including a possible Copenhagen IPO, per Bloomberg. axios.link/3QLTRdY

⚡ Fervo Energy, a Houston-based geothermal energy developer, set IPO terms to 55.55m shares at $21-$24. It would have a $6b market cap, were it to price in the middle, and plans to list on the Nasdaq (FRVO). Fervo had raised over $1.6b from backers like Devon Energy, Capricorn Investment Group, DCVC, B Capital, and Breakthrough Energy Ventures. axios.link/42KoXVR

🚑 GMR Solutions, a Lewisville, Texas-based emergency medical services company, set IPO terms to 31.91m shares at $22-$25. It would have a $4.7b market cap, were it to price in the middle, and plans to list on the NYSE (GMRS). The company reports $206m of net income on $5.7b in revenue for 2025, and KKR, Koch Industries, and BlackRock as major shareholders. axios.link/4t9Ausz

🚑 Odyssey Therapeutics, a Boston-based biotech focused on autoimmune disorders and inflammation, set IPO terms to 13.24m shares at $16-$18. It would have a $765m market cap, were it to price in the middle, and plans to list on the Nasdaq (ODTX). Odyssey had raised over $700m from firms like SR One, OrbiMed, Fidelity, Jeito Capital, TPG, Lightspeed, and Dimension Capital. axios.link/3QJFuXC

• Meta (Nasdaq: META) acquired Assured Robot Intelligence, a San Diego-based robot model developer that had been seeded by AIX Ventures. axios.link/4n62JXZ

• Navigator Global Investments (ASX: NGI) agreed to buy a portfolio of minority, net revenue-share interests in alternative asset managers from Stable Asset Management for $195m. axios.link/4eWr7cj

• Sentinel Capital Partners agreed to sell NSI Industries, a Huntersville, N.C-based provider of electrical connectors and wire management products, for around $3b to Hubbell (NYSE: HUBB). axios.link/4tQPDjZ

🚑 SK Capital Partners completed its sale of the controlled drug substance businesses Noramco to CDMO Siegfried Holding (Swiss: SFZN). axios.link/4q0Q3kM

• SK also sold Phoenix Flavors & Fragrances to Israel's Turpaz Industries (TASE: TRPZ) for up to $100m. axios.link/4w9eVLC

🚑 UCB (Brussels: UCB) agreed to acquire Candid Therapeutics, a San Diego-based autoimmune biotech that had raised $370m from firms like Qiming Venture Partners, TCG Crossover Management, Fairmount Partners, venBio, and Firesite Capital. Candid had previously agreed to a reverse merger with Rallybio (Nasdaq: RLYB), but says that UCB made a superior offer. axios.link/3PkbdhB

• Jindal Steel of India has paused talks to buy the European steel operations of Germany's Thyssenkrupp. axios.link/4d0FJ7Z

• Lakshmi Mittal and Adar Poonawalla are leading an acquisition of Indian Premier League cricket team the Rajasthan Royals for $1.65b. axios.link/498Pkse

• Mesirow agreed to acquire LeafHouse Financial Advisors from LeafHouse Financial Group. axios.link/48Fx6yx

• Mako Capital Group launched as a Miami-based lower midmarket PE firm. Its founders are Oscar Munoz (ex-CEO of United Airlines), Angel Morales (former co-head of BAML Capital Partners), and Pete Amaro (L'Attitude Ventures). axios.link/4uo362p