By Abby Schultz

For family offices, private-equity investments have been growing for years. But now more are taking a different approach: direct investing in private companies. Last year, wealthy families boosted the value of direct investments by a stunning 123.3% to nearly $13 billion, says S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Direct investments offer more transparency, sometimes more control, and avoid private-equity fees. In a Citi Wealth survey, 70% of family offices said they were "engaged with direct investments" and 40% increased activity in the past year. Families believe direct investing offers them a competitive advantage "because they can deploy patient capital and they can hold it for a long time or a very long time," says Alexandre Monnier, Citi Wealth's head of Family Office Advisory.

Family offices "want to be able to fully customize," says Northern Trust's Global Family Office President Dino De Vito." They want to be able to avoid certain sectors. They want the flexibility of sometimes not investing in public equities."

Last year, families invested more than $3 billion into 36 tech, media, and telecom deals, notes S&P Global Market Intelligence -- the most of any sector--led by the $860 million investment in Stoke Space Technologies, a rocket company founded by former Blue Origin and SpaceX employees. Five materials deals raised $4.8 billion, largely from the $4.5 billion acquisition of glass packaging maker Verallia Société Anonyme by BW Gestão de Investimentos, the family office of Brazil's Moreira Salles family.

That need for control is rising. A new UBS Global Wealth Management report finds 60% of family offices are altering allocations in 2026, nearly double 2025. The reason: a riskier world.

Write to Abby Schultz at abby.schultz@dowjones.com

Last Week

Markets

Iran and the U.S. seemed to near a temporary deal on Memorial Day weekend, with many of the key issues unresolved. A few ships moved through the Strait of Hormuz, and oil fell below $100 a barrel. But on Monday, the U.S. struck Iranian missile sites and boats laying mines. In the U.S., the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index fell to 44.8, an all-time low, but artificial intelligence drove stocks to new highs. April inflation hit a three-year high; first-quarter growth was revised down to 1.6%. Indexes set new highs, though no Iran deal emerged. On the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.9%; the S&P 500, 1.4%; and the Nasdaq Composite, 2.4%.

Companies

Memory-chip maker SK Hynix joined Micron Technology in the trillion-dollar market-cap club. Pope Leo warned of AI in a 42,300-word encyclical. A U.K. AI institute found safety gaps in major AI models. Walt Disney filed for license reviews of eight local broadcasters "under protest," calling an FCC probe an effort to "suppress speech." Ferrari introduced its first all-electric car, the $640,000 Luce, designed by Apple's Jony Ivey. Samsung Electronics workers agreed to a profit-sharing plan, ending a strike.

Deals

Uber Technologies offered to buy German Delivery Hero for $11.6 billion...Bloomberg reported that SpaceX is settling on a $1.8 billion initial-public-offering valuation... AkzoNobel rejected a $14.5 billion takeover bid from Nippon Paint and Sherwin-Williams.

Next Week

Monday 6/1

The Institute for Supply Management releases both its Manufacturing and Services Purchasing Managers' Indexes for May. Consensus estimate for the Manufacturing PMI, released on Monday, is a 53.2 reading, half a point more than in April. The Services PMI, released on Wednesday, is expected to be 53.8, roughly even with the previous month's data.

Tuesday 6/2

Dollar General and Palo Alto Networks release earnings on Tuesday, followed by Broadcom and CrowdStrike Holdings on Wednesday.

Wednesday 6/3

The Federal Reserve releases the beige book for the fourth of eight times this year. The report gathers anecdotal information on current economic conditions from the 12 regional Federal Reserve banks.

Friday 6/5

The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the jobs report for May. Economists forecast an increase of 90,000 in nonfarm payrolls, following a 115,000 gain in April. The unemployment rate is expected to remain unchanged at 4.3%. Payrolls posted back-to-back monthly gains in March and April for the first time since last May.

The Numbers

$31 T

The size of U.S. government debt, now larger than the economy for the first time since World War II.

81%

Percentage of the global population that lives in cities and towns, up from 55% in 2018, per a U.N. study.

51%

Labor's first-quarter share of gross domestic income, lowest since 1947. Corporate profits hit a high.

81%

Rise in the PHLX Semiconductor Index in 2026, its best start since the dot-com bubble in 2000.

Write to Robert Teitelman at robrt.teitelman@barrons.com

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May 29, 2026 19:08 ET (23:08 GMT)

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