Here's your Forbes Daily Briefing for Saturday, December 6th. Today on Forbes, Inside the

Deal that made Polly Markets founder one of the youngest billionaires on Earth. In July,

Jeffrey Sprecker, the 70-year-old billionaire CEO of Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company

of the New York Stock Exchange,

sat at Manhattan, an upscale restaurant in the financial district, overlooking the sprawling

New York City skyline from the 60th floor. As a sommelier weaved through the tables,

pouring wine, in-walked Shane Copland in a t-shirt and jeans, clutching a plastic water bottle and a paper bag with a bagel he'd picked up en route.

Sprecker chuckles as he recalls his first impression of the boyish, eccentric entrepreneur.

He says, quote,

An old bald guy that works at the New York Stock Exchange, where we require that you wear a suit and tie,

next to a mop-headed guy

in a t-shirt that's 27. But Sprecker was fascinated by Polymarket, Copland's blockchain-based

prediction market, and after dinner, he made his move. He says, quote, I asked Shane if he would

consider selling us his company.

Prediction markets like Polymarket let thousands of ordinary people bet on future events,

the unemployment rate, say, or when Bitcoin will hit an all-time high.

In aggregate, prediction market bets have proven to be something of a crystal ball with the wisdom of the crowd often proving itself more prescient than expert opinion. For instance, polymarket punters

predicted that Trump would prevail in the 2024 presidential election, when many national pundits

were sure that Kamala Harris would win. Copland initially turned down Sprecker's buyout offer, but discussions led to negotiations

and eventually a deal.

In October, Intercontinental announced it had invested $2 billion for an up to 25% stake

in the company, bringing the young solo founder the balance he was looking for.

...