Blackstone Finds a Diamond in the Ruff With Rover

Woof! There is deal-making going on out there that doesn’t have to do with artificial intelligence (unless of course you mean animal intelligence). Blackstone’s $2.3 billion purchase of pet-sitting marketplace Rover Group, unveiled Wednesday, demonstrates that Rover is that rarest of gems, a company that went public via a SPAC merger and turned out not to be a dog. SPACs, as you might remember, are those cashed-up shell firms known as special purpose acquisition companies. Many businesses that have …

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