The list of TikTok suitors keeps growing, with last week's news of a consortium that includes Jimmy Donaldson (aka MrBeast) and Roblox CEO David Baszucki.

• Others kicking tires include Microsoft, Steve Mnuchin, Frank McCourt, and (maybe) Oracle.

But what if President Trump himself chose to bid?

• There's nothing legally stopping him from doing so, as my colleague Lucinda Shen writes.
• Presidents are allowed to run private businesses and make investments while in office. They just usually don't.
• They also don't usually launch meme coins just before inauguration day, or turn major levers of government over to the country's richest man. In other words, leave your ethical norms at the door.

Reality check: Trump hasn't floated the idea of buying TikTok, at least not publicly.

• But he'd be the one to sign off on any deal, and has said his signature could be the difference between TikTok being "worthless" or "worth maybe a $1 trillion."
• It might be too tantalizing for Trump to not at least consider it. Same goes for Beijing, maybe as a cheap way to lower the tariff temperature.

By the numbers: Trump probably doesn't have enough liquid assets to do this on his own, but has plenty of wealthy pals who could fill out a bid.

• He also could sell a portion of his $3.7 billion stake in Truth Social's parent company, and could fetch more than $1 billion via his next scheduled crypto drop.
• Trump also could borrow against his real estate portfolio. Some banks might balk until an appeal is heard on his defamation and fraud cases in New York, but there should be enough that are eager to curry favor.
• And, remember, no one actually needs to buy 100% of TikTok to satisfy the divestiture law. Instead, it's much closer to 20%.

State of play: TikTok's reprieve via executive order lasts two more months.

The bottom line: Sure, this is far-fetched. But so is the new normal.

Warburg Pincus and Berkshire Partners agreed to pay $3 billion to acquire Triumph Group (NYSE: TGI), a Radnor, Pa.-based maker of aftermarket parts for aerospace and defense systems.

Why it's the BFD: This suggests that private equity isn't worried about DOGE turning its attention to Pentagon spending, including the F-35 project of which Triumph has a piece, plus continued optimism around commercial aerospace spending.

By the numbers: The private equity firms will pay $26 per share, a 38.7% premium to Friday's closing price. Triumph last traded that high in early 2022.

The bottom line: "Triumph offers a range of aftermarket products for commercial and military aircraft, including engine parts and integrated systems. Original equipment manufacturers are among its biggest clients." —Bloomberg

• Riot, a New York-based provider of employee-focused cyber-protection software, raised $30m in Series B funding. Left Lane Capital led, and was joined by insiders YC, Base10, and FundersClub. axios.link/3WGg1yn

• Jump, a Salt Lake City provider of AI solutions for financial advisors, raised $20m in Series A funding. Battery Ventures led, and was joined by Citi Ventures, Sorenson Capital, and Pelion Ventures Partners. jumpapp.com

• Tana, an embedded workspace platform, raised $14m in Series A funding. Tola Capital led, and was joined by Lightspeed Venture Partners, Northzone, Alliance VC, and firstminute capital. axios.link/3CD95uZ

🚑 Enduro Genetics, a Danish synthetic biology startup, raised €12m in Series A funding from Supernova Invest, NOON Ventures, and Sandwater. enduro.bio

• Hallo theo, a German digital property management startup, raised €10m in seed funding from Insight Partners. hallotheo.de

• Tandem, a startup that leases excess office space, raised $6.1m in seed funding from Collide Capital, 1984 Ventures, and YC. axios.link/40WLKhf

• Wyne, a Dubai-based wealth and asset tracking platform, raised $2m in pre-seed funding led by Scene Holding. axios.link/42G9UxY

⚡ ArcLight completed its $865m purchase of a 25% equity interest in Gulf Coast Express Pipeline from Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX). axios.link/3EmDGgY

• CIVC Partners invested in Strategus, an Englewood, Colo.-based managed services provider of connected TV advertising campaigns. strategus.com

• Greenhall Capital Partners agreed to buy Johnson Communications, an Alvarado, Texas-based company focused on on rural fiber-optic telecom deployment. axios.link/4hGql1d

• Helix Traffic Solutions, a portfolio company of Nonantum Capital Partners, acquired Mels Electric, a Wilmer, Texas-based provider of traffic safety infrastructure. helixtraffic.com

• Marlin Equity Partners bought a majority stake in Napier AI, a London-based provider of financial crime and regulation compliance software. Napier had raised funding from Crestline Investors. axios.link/3WN6eqm

• SimpliGov, a Sacramento, Calif.-based government workflow automation platform, raised funding from JMI Equity. axios.link/4hEdOvm

• Tallvine Partners acquired the U.S. assets of Odyssey Aviation, an operator of three FBOs, from Granite Creek Capital Partners. odysseyaviation.com

Titan America, the U.S. business of Belgian cement giant Titan Cement, is the only major IPO expected this week on U.S. exchanges. axios.link/3CLzlmS

• Fifth Era Acquisition I, a tech SPAC formed by Fifth Era and Blockchain Coinvestors, filed for a $200m IPO. axios.link/3CBJxhV

🚑 Sionna Therapeutics, a Waltham, Mass.-based maker of therapies for cystic fibrosis, set IPO terms to 8.8m shares at $16-$18. It would have a $734m fully diluted value, were it to price in the middle, and previously raised $149m from investors including RA Capital (29.2%), TPG Growth (17.4%), and Atlas Ventures (11.4%). axios.link/4aJoC98

• Ardian is considering a sale of Trigo, a French provider of quality management and consulting services, per Bloomberg. axios.link/3CofdY5

• Five Arrows and Insight Partners are weighing a sale for their minority stake in Kpler, a Belgian provider of data to commodities traders in which they invested $200m in 2022, per Reuters. axios.link/40YWRq3

⚡ Adnoc and Austrian energy firm OMV are in talks to buy Canada's Nova Chemicals, per Bloomberg. axios.link/3PZ3pym

• B. Riley Financial (Nasdaq: RILY) is weighing a spinoff of its securities unit, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4jz9bVj

🚑 Becton Dickinson (NYSE: BDX) is being pushed by activist investor Starboard Value to spin off its life sciences unit, which could be valued at around $30b, per the FT. axios.link/4jKe4e0

• Fortissimo Capital agreed to invest $120m for a 14% stake in Stratasys (Nasdaq: SSYS), an Israeli provider of 3D printing solutions. stratasys.com

• Indra (Madrid: IDR), a Spanish defense company, agreed to buy an 89.7% stake in satellite operator Hispasat from Redeia (Madrid: REDE). axios.link/4aJ6lsE

🚑 L'Oreal (Paris: OR) agreed to sell €3b of shares in Sanofi back to the French drugmaker. axios.link/40zUTL6

🚑 Prospect Medical Holdings agreed to sell Crozer Health, operator of two Pennsylvania hospitals, to a nonprofit consortium of health-care operators. axios.link/40W6mGs

• Tempur Sealy International (NYSE: TPX) will be allowed to proceed with its $4b purchase of Mattress Firm, after a federal judge sided with the companies in an antitrust suit filed by the FTC. axios.link/3WIXhyc

• Ariel Investments launched a private equity fund focused on women's sports, including an initial deal as lead investor in Denver's new National Women's Soccer League franchise. axios.link/411z5d6

• Conviction Partners, a VC firm founded by Sarah Guo (ex-Greylock) raised $230m for its second fund. It also added Mike Vernal, a former Sequoia Capital partner, as its second GP. axios.link/3CAlbVS

• Petra Capital Partners of Nashville raised $270m for its fifth growth equity fund. petracapital.com

• TrueBridge Partners is raising up to $200m for its second blockchain-focused fund, which will back both companies and other VC funds, per an SEC filing.

• Arsham Memarzadeh is joining Meritech Capital Partners as a general partner, Axios has learned.

• He previously was a general partner with Lightspeed Venture Partners, where his deals included Wiz and Chainguard.

• Clay Bryan joined BlackArch Partners as a managing director. He previously was with the financial sponsors group of B. Riley Financial. axios.link/3Ejmj0F

• CVC Capital Partners named Lorne Somerville and Cathrin Petty as co-heads of North American private equity, replacing Chris Stadler (who becomes chair of North America), per the FT. axios.link/4hiG2w1

🚑 Philipp Meyer joined Cinven as a partner. He previously was with Carlyle, where he co-led European health-care investing. axios.link/4aN9VlI

• Nordic Capital promoted Martin Jacobsson as operating partner, Henrik Johansson as partner and general counsel, Elin Ljung as operating partner and head of sustainability/communications, and Henrik Sandreus as an operating partner. nordiccapital.com

• Permira hired Chris Buchanan (ex-Apollo) as a partner and global head of capital formation, and Nader Salman (Neuberger Berman) as a managing director and head of Middle East capital formation. permira.com

• Post Capital promoted Christopher Cheang and Isaac Chalal to managing directors. postcp.com

• Sanjay Wadhwa, the SEC's former acting enforcement chief, is joining law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges as a partner. weil.com

Stocks tumbled at today's open, due to America's nascent trade war against its neighbors.

• It's a reminder that the only economic certainty is uncertainty.