This Thursday morning First Read brings you links to the most popular American brands in China, Blackstone’s bargain bucket of shares and some early stage entrepreneurs jumping at the chance to visit their investor mecca.

The Blackstone Group has invested in Carbon Black. Financial terms weren’t announced. Sterling, Va.-based Carbon Black, a subsidiary of Kyrus, provides information security technology. Blackstone made the investment in Carbon Black during the fall of 2012.

Shares of SeaWorld Entertainment Inc, backed by Blackstone Group LP, rose as much as 22 percent in their market debut, valuing the theme park operator at $3.05 billion.

The Blackstone Group has informed Dell’s Special Committee of the Board that it will not submit a definitive bid to acquire the PC maker and is withdrawing from the process.

Blackstone Group LP, the world’s largest alternative asset manager, reported a 28 percent rise in first-quarter profit on Thursday as its real estate, private equity, credit and hedge fund units successfully sold assets.

Silver Lake, Michael Dell‘s partner in the $24.4 billion buyout bid for Dell Inc., could receive a $180 million break-up fee if a higher accepted bid comes from a rival such as Blackstone Group LP and billionaire investor Carl Icahn, Reuters reports.

After three years, the Blackstone Group could more than double its money between realized and unrealized gains when SeaWorld Entertainment goes public later this week.

Thermo Fisher Scientific is nearing a deal to buy genetic testing equipment maker Life Technologies for close to $13 billion, writes Reuters. Life Technologies’ board chose Thermo Fisher over Sigma-Aldrich Corp, a maker of chemicals for research laboratories, and a private equity consortium consisting of Blackstone Group, Carlyle Group, KKR and Temasek Holdings, writes Reuters.

The votes are in, and the majority of peHUB readers in our online poll believe that Michael Dell and Silver Lake will hold off competing offers to take Dell Inc. private.

A spate of large transactions helped boost deal values by nearly 88% in first quarter, while the number of transactions dropped.