Elon Musk pitches SpaceX to investors

Plus: We chatted with the NYT reporter investigating DC contracts

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Matt Davis
June 05, 2026

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News You Need2Know

What’s the stock market up to, eh?

Companies mentioned in today’s newsletter

Elon Musk pitches SpaceX to investors

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Get ready to open your wallets, because SpaceX $SPACEX ( ▼ 1.96% ) is graciously allowing the public to buy into the world’s biggest initial public offering. They are seeking a let’s-say-not-very-humble $1.78 trillion valuation, hoping to raise up to $86 billion by selling shares at $135 a pop.

Why invest in a loss-making company that is set to trade at 92 times its current annual revenue? Because management is pitching grounded, everyday concepts to investors like "orbital AI data centers" and "asteroid mining." Musk claims this will ensure "species-level redundancy," which is exactly what everyone looks for in their retirement portfolio.

Even better, within six months, a chunk of the IPO proceeds is obliged to be used to repay a $20 billion bridge loan. That loan was actually used to refinance the debt inherited from Mr. Musk’s other businesses, X and xAI.

Don't worry about having a say in the company, either. Musk’s special shares will give him 82% of the voting power, granting him an unprecedented level of insulation from accountability. Major pension funds like the New York State and California Public Employees Retirement System are expressing serious concerns over this "extreme governance structure," but because they use passive index funds, they’ll also be forced to buy the stock anyway. And I’m sure Elon Musk pays really close attention to strongly worded letters from pension funds.

On the plus side: With a price/earnings ratio of 92, SpaceX is actually trading far lower than Tesla’s $TSLA ( ▼ 2.27% ) stock, which trades at 387x its earnings per share today. I’m reading Walter Isaacson’s biography of Musk and it describes a scene where he once won at poker by going all-in a series of times, doubling his bet each time until he won. Perhaps that’s Mr. Musk’s business plan for SpaceX?

Quote of the Day

❝

My competition is people staying home.

We chatted with the NYT reporter investigating DC contracts

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We sat down with David Fahrenthold, an investigative reporter for The New York Times $NYT ( ▲ 1.05% ) to discuss his findings regarding the Trump administration's "Make DC Beautiful Again" projects. Fahrenthold has uncovered a pattern of bypassing competitive bidding, resulting in… let’s say questionable expenses for taxpayers.

Discussing the $13.1 million no-bid contract to waterproof the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Fahrenthold noted it was "given to this company in Virginia that's never held a federal contract before." An internal Park Service analysis revealed the contractor charged an extra 20% for overhead and 20% for profit, rates that Fahrenthold pointed out were deemed "excessive and inflated" compared to typical federal contracts.

He stressed the danger of ignoring the standard bidding process, reminding us that "this is capitalism… the mechanism that we have created to make sure we find the best contractors to do the best job for the best price." Instead, the administration is utilizing a "closed, sometimes wasteful rush process where they're giving out really large contracts without any competition."

Ultimately, Fahrenthold suggests these costly, opaque projects reveal "the shrinking horizons of the Trump administration," as they divert park funds meant for the whole country to focus on "remaking sort of the two square miles around President Trump."

Personally, of course, I’m fine with the government spending $5 million of our National Parks revenues to cover D.C. statues in gold in time for Independence Day. It seems to me like Mr. Farenthold might be nursing a grudge!

Meta bets on its new AI “business agents”

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Remember when Mark Zuckerberg changed the name of his company to focus on a thing called the Metaverse, which he subsequently abandoned after burning through $83 billion on the project? Remember when he fired 10 percent of his workforce over AI, like, last month? I know. It all sounds a tad harsh. But now, Meta $META ( ▼ 0.91% ) is betting big on AI “business agents” in the hope of reducing its dependence on advertising as essentially its only major revenue stream.

I’m sure it’s gonna go swimmingly.

The new “business agent" is designed to handle day-to-day operations for companies. Announced at the WhatsApp-focused Conversations conference in London, the tool goes beyond basic legacy chatbots by offering "agentic" capabilities like booking appointments, processing payments, and closing sales. The assistant will be available globally across WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram, allowing businesses to channel their unique tone, answer frequently asked questions, and qualify leads before escalating complex issues to human staff.

Naomi Gleit, Meta’s head of product, described the move as "definitely an enterprise play" aimed at convincing companies to consolidate their workflows and ads. Meta is also launching a broader "Business Agent Platform" connected to external non-Meta systems like Shopify $SHOP ( ▼ 3.22% ) and Zendesk $ZEN ( ▲ 0.03% ) , initially offering the tools for free before introducing paid subscriptions in the coming months.

While this launch positions Meta against rivals like OpenAI $OPENAI ( ▲ 0.03% ) , Anthropic $ANTHROPIC ( ▼ 3.83% ) , and Google $GOOGL ( ▼ 1.39% ) , the deep integration carries risks. Recently, hackers tricked an AI support bot into handing over access to high-profile Instagram accounts—though Meta claims this was due to a separate technical bug rather than a flaw with the agent itself. So, that’s okay, then!

The firm’s stocks were up three percent on the news.

Song of the Day: venbee, “this one’s different”

Here’s a song by a working-class lesbian about falling in love. Surprisingly I find it very identifiable. Then again, I guess that’s the point of music, isn’t it? To bridge divides?

Gym boss: “My competition is people staying home”

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We caught up with Jim Rowley, the CEO of Crunch Fitness, to discuss the brand's low-price model aimed squarely at the "young, strong, and social 18-to-39" demographic. (If you're over 40, weak, and antisocial, please just avert your eyes now.)

Rowley says Crunch's massive expansion is driven by this affordable entry point and a strict "no judgements philosophy." But you might judge yourself when you walk into their new "Crunch 3.0" facilities. To adapt to modern trends, Crunch has transformed into what Rowley calls a "mini spa," packing in "infrared saunas, hydromassage beds," and cryotherapy chambers where you can literally freeze away your existential dread after a workout.

The gym floors have also shifted. Because "strong is the new skinny," Crunch has ballooned from two Olympic weightlifting platforms to sometimes 20, alongside a dedicated section strictly "for the booty.”

At one time I remember studying for a journalism qualification at the London College of Printing, incidentally. But I’m not sure how that’s relevant right now.

Rowley even teased an upcoming focus on "longevity," aiming to extend your "health span" so you can keep doing squats well into your twilight years. When asked about rival gyms, Rowley noted his real competition is "people staying at home." He's basically fighting a one-man war against your couch, DoorDash $DASH ( ▼ 0.57% ) , and Netflix $NFLX ( ▲ 1.09% ) binges.

I say “best of luck” to him. My Whoop tells me that my “health span” age is just under forty and let’s just say that’s rather optimistic but I’ll take it.

Investors ditch tech stocks for banks, retail

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You might be wondering why the Dow Jones Industrial Average $DJI ( ▼ 5.32% ) popped up yesterday. Well, it all comes down to a massive market rotation. Investors appear exhausted by the relentless AI rally and are cashing out of tech to seek refuge in traditional sectors like banking, healthcare, and retail.

The tech sell-off was pretty fierce. Broadcom $BRCM ( 0.0% ) sparked the exodus, tumbling up to 15% following its first revenue miss since December 2024. This triggered a widespread semiconductor retreat, with Arm Holdings $ARMH ( ▼ 4.82% ) shedding 6% and Micron Technology $MU ( ▼ 3.95% ) pulling back 7.7%. Cybersecurity also took a beating: CrowdStrike $CRWD.TSX ( ▼ 3.53% ) plunged 10% after issuing lackluster guidance, dragging down peers like Palo Alto Networks $PANW ( ▼ 1.21% ) and Fortinet $FTNT ( ▼ 2.07% ) .

So, where did all that capital go? Right into blue-chip stocks. UnitedHealth $UNH ( ▲ 0.48% ) led the Dow's 865-point surge by jumping nearly 6% for its best day since April. Financials and retail also reaped the rewards, with JPMorgan Chase $JPM ( ▲ 0.16% ) climbing 2.7% and Walmart $WMT ( ▲ 2.0% ) adding 1.4%. Outside the Dow, warehouse retailer Costco $COST ( ▲ 1.67% ) gained 2% and pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly $LLYX ( ▲ 2.66% ) rose 4.5%.

I’m just glad I stuck half my RobinHood $HOOD ( ▼ 4.47% ) account into tech stocks a few weeks ago.🤢

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Poll of the day: AI, me…

We asked: “Did Trump's AI regulation order go far enough?” You answered:

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ No, it didn't go far enough — it needs to be mandatory. (44)
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ It went too far and sets a dangerous regulatory precedent. (25)
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ It struck the right balance between innovation and security. (18)
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ The framework is flawed because it relies on intelligence agencies. (30)
🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ It is too vague to determine its actual impact. (88)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 It's too little, too late, and feeble in comparison to the threat. (117)
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