Dan DeFrancesco

Everything you want to know about the drama in private credit but were too afraid to ask

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The credit might be private, but the problems are becoming pretty public.

A once-wonky corner of Wall Street that’s exploded in recent years is facing increased scrutiny.

But what even is private credit? Why are people nervous? And, most importantly, why should you care?

Let’s break it down:

People are freaking out about private credit. What gives? PE giant Blackstone saw a bunch of withdrawals from its main private-credit fund for retail investors. The redemptions (7.9% of shares, totalling $1.7 billion) actually exceeded the fund’s quarterly limit of 5%. Blackstone still honored it, but not before asking its executives to kick in some of their own money to help the fund.

Ok, but what is private credit? (I totally know, but I’m asking for a friend.) It’s when investors loan money directly to businesses without involving traditional lenders. While it has existed for decades, private credit’s breakthrough came after banks had to pull back on lending following the financial crisis.

If that description is too simple, check out Apollo’s 125-page slide deck about private credit that was published just in time for Christmas. (Personally, I’d just take coal.)

So, Blackstone had a bad quarter in private credit. Now everyone’s nervous. It’s not just Blackstone. Blue Owl, another major player, also recently froze withdrawals from a private-credit fund. Now its stock is down more than 32% this year, and people are reportedly shorting the stock like crazy.

For critics, it’s confirmation of what they’ve been warning about: private credit is a bubble waiting to pop.

Private credit is bad and dangerous. Got it. Whoa, let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Private credit still plays an important role. It’s an alternative for businesses that might need money fast or on more flexible terms than banks can offer.

But when a space quickly explodes — private credit’s grown to roughly $3 trillion — there are bound to be people who get in over their heads. Even Apollo’s Marc Rowan, a private credit evangelist, acknowledged that a “shakeout” is coming.

This all sounds like Wall Street mumbo jumbo. Why should I even care? Because Wall Street wants you to invest in these types of assets. In search of new capital, firms have launched private-credit funds for a broader audience.

It’s part of a bigger trend of giving everyday investors access to private markets previously reserved for institutional investors and the ultrawealthy.

Bottom line: Is private credit bad or good? It’s not as simple as that. The lack of transparency around private credit is both a feature and a bug. It offers borrowers confidentiality while also raising concerns about unseen risks.

Add in the fact that less-sophisticated investors are being pitched such a complex product, and panic can quickly snowball.

Honestly, I’m just happy to be talking about a market risk that doesn’t involve AI. Well … about that.

Dude. I know.




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Chong Ming Lee, Junior News Reporter at Business Insider's Singapore bureau.

Jensen Huang says Nvidia would love to back an OpenAI IPO, and there’s ‘no drama’ with Sam Altman

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Jensen Huang says Nvidia would love to invest in a future OpenAI IPO.

Huang said in an interview on CNBC’s “Mad Money” on Tuesday that there was “no drama” between Nvidia and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, pushing back against recent chatter of tension in the relationship between the two companies.

“The first deal is on,” the Nvidia CEO said, referring to the company’s September deal with OpenAI, under which the company said it planned to invest up to $100 billion in the AI startup.

“​​And then there’s, of course, an IPO in the future,” he added. “We love to be participating in that as well,” he added.

Huang also described OpenAI as a “once in a generation company” and said Nvidia is “delighted to invest in it.”

His comments come amid reports suggesting internal unease around the deal.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday that the investment had sparked internal concerns at Nvidia, with some executives questioning the deal, according to people familiar with the matter.

Separately, Reuters reported on Tuesday that OpenAI had been unhappy with certain newer Nvidia chips and had looked at alternatives since last year, citing people familiar with the matter.

Huang told reporters in Taipei on Saturday that speculation of any dissatisfaction with OpenAI was “nonsense.”

“We will invest a great deal of money, probably the largest investment we’ve ever made,” he added.

Altman has also pushed back on rumors of tension.

“We love working with NVIDIA and they make the best AI chips in the world,” wrote Altman in a post on X on Tuesday.

“We hope to be a gigantic customer for a very long time. I don’t get where all this insanity is coming from,” he added.

OpenAI is one of the world’s most valuable private AI companies and a major customer for Nvidia’s chips, which power the training and deployment of large language models.

The startup has not announced plans for an IPO, but its fundraising and computing needs have fueled speculation about how it will finance future growth.

“Big Short” investor Michael Burry said in a Substack exchange in January that he was surprised that ChatGPT “kicked off a multi-trillion-dollar infrastructure race.”

“It’s like someone built a prototype robot and every business in the world started investing for a robot future,” he wrote.




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Lucia Moses

Disney-backed DramaBox is seeking new funding as it tries to win the micro drama race in the US

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The battle to become the top micro-drama app in the US is heating up.

DramaBox, one of the leading producers of the short-video format filled with soapy tropes, has been seeking fresh funding from US backers, according to two people with direct knowledge of its efforts.

One said DramaBox’s fundraising goal was $100 million with a $500 million valuation.

DramaBox is part of Singapore-based StoryMatrix, and is behind titles like “A Deal with the Hockey Captain” and “The Lost Heir: A Christmas Reckoning” that it monetizes through one-off payments, subscriptions (usually $20 a week), and ads.

DramaBox did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Executives at DramaBox told Business Insider in September that the company was profitable and that their ambition was to become the most popular micro-drama platform for Americans. They aimed to do so by working with Hollywood filmmakers and diversifying into new storytelling styles and genres, such as series for families and choose-your-own-adventure-style dramas.

Industry reports regularly list DramaBox as one of the top two micro-drama apps, alongside fellow Asian import ReelShort. Analytics firm Sensor Tower estimated that DramaBox generated $120 million in global in-app revenue in the first quarter of 2025, just behind ReelShort’s $130 million. DramaBox countered in the September interview that its numbers were higher, without sharing specifics.

The streaming consulting firm Owl & Co. estimated that the format had generated $1.3 billion in the US in 2025, mostly from direct payments from viewers.

DramaBox already has a connection to Hollywood’s most blue-chip company, Disney, which has invested in DramaBox through its selective accelerator program. Disney said in late 2025 that it was in talks with DramaBox to adapt young adult fantasy novels into original micro dramas and was exploring adapting music albums into vertical short videos.

Investors have been placing bets elsewhere in the space as well:

  • This past fall, Bill Block, the former CEO of Miramax, raised $14 million from investors including Alexis Ohanian, Kris Jenner, and Kim Kardashian, among others, to launch GammaTime. He called it the first “premium micro drama streaming platform.”
  • Fox invested in Holywater, a Ukrainian company behind the micro drama app My Drama.
  • LA-based Bitz Films, which says it’s focused on creating elevated micro dramas in genres like comedy and horror, has raised $1.2 million in pre-seed funding.

Big Tech has also dived in.

Meta’s Instagram is testing the micro drama format in India with a series. TikTok, which is already widely used by short dramas for marketing, added a section called TikTok Minis where you can binge on bite-sized series without leaving the app.

Despite the format’s burgeoning popularity, there are those who question its long-term viability. Some investors told Business Insider they had held back from the space because of concerns that the format wouldn’t succeed in areas beyond its core of female-targeted romances.




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Vanity Fair and Olivia Nuzzi cut ties as RFK Jr. relationship drama continues to unfold

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Journalist Olivia Nuzzi and Vanity Fair are severing ties.

Nuzzi joined Vanity Fair in September 2025, after departing New York magazine in 2024 in the wake of revelations that she’d had a relationship with her source, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, then a presidential candidate.

The fallout from the affair has continued after Nuzzi’s ex-fiancé, former Politico correspondent Ryan Lizza, recently accused Nuzzi of additional ethical breaches.

“Vanity Fair and Olivia Nuzzi have mutually agreed, in the best interest of the magazine, to let her contract expire at the end of the year,” according to a joint statement from spokespeople for Vanity Fair and Nuzzi provided to Business Insider.

A third-party investigation into her reporting at New York magazine revealed no bias, but the magazine said at the time that her relationship with the ex-presidential candidate violated their conflict-of-interest standards.

Following her split with Lizza and New York magazine, Nuzzi, a former star political reporter, moved to Los Angeles. She published a memoir, “American Canto” on Tuesday, in which she detailed the past 10 years of political reporting and her relationship with “the politician,” understood to be RFK Jr.

Since their split, Lizza and Nuzzi have been engaged in an ongoing reputational battle, with each publicly accusing the other of engaging in behaviors that, while not illegal, undermine each other’s journalistic credibility.

Nuzzi, in a petition for a temporary protective order against him in late 2024, accused Lizza of blackmailing her and threatening to destroy her career, which Lizza has denied. She later withdrew the petition.

After a lull, the public acrimony continued with the revelation of Nuzzi’s book, followed by a series of Substack posts from Lizza.

He has suggested in online postings that Nuzzi used her position as a reporter to “catch and kill” unflattering stories about RFK Jr. He also accused her of having another unusual relationship with a different subject.

A spokesperson for Nuzzi did not respond to questions about Lizza’s allegations. In a post for Emily Sundberg’s Substack, Feed Me, she wrote it was “another attempt to harass, humiliate, and harm me until I am as destroyed as he seems to be,” and called Lizza’s posts “fan fiction-slash-revenge porn.”




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