This week three buyers wrote checks most of us will never see, and every one of them ran the same playbook you use on a $3 million deal. Charles and I take apart Paramount closing its $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, Schneider Electric agreeing to pay a 42 percent premium for industrial software company PTC, and Clayton, Dubilier and Rice teaming up with McKesson to take Option Care Health private in a 51 to 49 split. Then we get into OpenAI's projected cash burn through 2030, the industry call to slow down frontier AI, and what both mean for operators who buy real businesses.In this episode I cover:Why closing is the starting gun, not the finish lineHow a regulatory settlement works like a covenant package and an earnout in reverseWhy a premium is pre-paid synergy, and how sellers find the buyer who will pay itWhy SBA financed buyers usually cannot match a strategic buyer's premiumHow staged ownership works and the clauses a minority partner should demand before closingWhat it means when projected spending is bigger than projected revenueA holdco reality check on paying yourself versus reinvesting everythingThe deal on the front page and the deal on your desk are the same deal. Just move the decimal.Deal figures are as reported in public filings and news coverage at the time of recording. Schneider and PTC and the Option Care transaction are announced, not closed. OpenAI figures are company forecasts reported by the Financial Times, not results. Nothing in this episode is investment, legal, or tax advice.LINKSTry Deal Flow OS free - https://dealflow-os.comSubscribe to my newsletter - https://buybuildexitwithroyredd.subst...Follow me on Instagram - @buybuildexitFree Class - https://www.skool.com/buy-build-exit-...