Happy Friday Everyone! Todayâs newsletter: 1,105 wordsâŚ4.2 mins
đ Todayâs Edition: SpaceX IPO, Gazans Rise Against Hamas, US-Iran Deal, VP Hunter Biden, Karen Bassâs Brother Sues L.A, Coinbase Lets AI Agents Trade Crypto.⌠& much more!
đŤ What tasty childhood gig gave Roald Dahl the wild inspiration for his most famous chocolate-filled story? Scroll down to find out!
đTHE HIGHLIGHT
One killer insight to stash in your back pocket
đ SpaceX Goes Public... And Makes Musk a Trillionaire
SpaceX just went public. The company raised $75 billion in the largest IPO in history, debuting at a valuation of roughly $1.77 trillion and surpassing Saudi Aramco's record-setting 2019 offering.
Investor demand reportedly exceeded $250 billion
Shares opened at $150, above their $135 IPO price and climbed into the $160â$168 range; briefly pushing SpaceX's market value beyond $2 trillion!
SpaceX $SPCX also flipped TSMC $TSM to become the 6th largest company in the world following IPO.
𼳠The biggest winner is, of course, Elon Musk. With roughly 42% ownership, the SpaceX founder became the world's first trillionaire on paper, a milestone that would have seemed unimaginable when he arrived in the United States as a young immigrant with little more than ambition and a belief in technology.
One guy now owns enough wealth to buy entire countries and still have enough left over to launch rockets!
đ° But Musk isn't the only one celebrating. An estimated 4,000â4,400 current and former SpaceX employees have become millionaires through stock options and equity grants.
That includes engineers, technicians, support staff, and workers who helped build the company over decadesâincluding employees whose jobs were far removed from designing rockets.
đŞ˘The Twist: SpaceX is still losing ~$4B+ a year, trading at ~90x revenue, and analysts are split between "$190 target" and "overvalued."
The market just bet $2T that Starlink and Starship justify the math.
đĄ Why it matters: SpaceX is more than an IPO. It's a uniquely American storyâa legal immigrant using free enterprise, innovation, and risk-taking to build one of the most valuable companies in history.
âď¸THE CHESSBOARD
Geopolitics Decoded In 3 Moves
âď¸ Trump Calls Iran "Dishonorable," Deal Still Hanging
President Trump blasted Iran on Truth Social after Iranian officials reportedly leaked fake details of ongoing nuclear negotiations.
He called their statements "weak and pathetic," accusing Tehran of acting in bad faith â "with them, there is no such thing as dealing in good faith."
He also condemned a recent Iranian drone attack targeting Indian ships near the Strait of Hormuz as "totally unacceptable."
đĄ Why it matters: The outburst comes as both sides claim progress toward a potential deal while publicly contradicting each other's accounts. With the Strait of Hormuz handling roughly a fifth of global oil shipments, markets are watching one question: are we headed toward a breakthroughâor another showdown?
đ Gazans Challenge Hamas
A movement led by Gazan exiles is calling for a mass uprising against Hamas, urging residents to join coordinated protests on June 26.
Organizers say the goal is simple: end Hamas's rule, stop the war, and prioritize the survival of ordinary Palestinians.
The campaign follows rare anti-Hamas demonstrations that erupted across Gaza in 2025, with protesters chanting "Hamas out" amid worsening humanitarian conditions.
đĄ Why it matters: Hamas has ruled Gaza since 2007 and has historically crushed dissent. But after years of war, destruction, and economic collapse, critics argue the group's grip on power is weaker than at any point in recent memory. The key question now: can public anger overcome public fear?
đťđŞ Shell Bets Big on Venezuelaâs Energy Comeback
Shell just signed five agreements with Venezuela covering offshore gas, onshore oil, and the long-delayed Dragon project â formalizing preliminary pacts from March.
Interim President Delcy Rodriguez called it a "historic step," and she's not wrong: this is the kind of deal that was unthinkable under Maduro.
The centerpiece is the Loran field, a 7 trillion cubic foot gas reservoir shared with Trinidad, early production targets eyed for 2027.
A key focus is turning Venezuela into a regional gas exporter via Trinidad.
đĄ Why it matters: Officials framed the agreements as part of a broader geopolitical and economic resetâwhere Venezuelaâs vast reserves, once sidelined, are being reintegrated into global energy markets.
đ˝THE EMPIRE FILES
Political Drama From DC To NYC
đł Hunter Biden Volunteers as Newsom's 2028 VP
On Newsom's podcast, Hunter Biden got "introduced" as a 2028 presidential candidate â and immediately downgraded himself.
I'll run, but only as your VP because the truth of the matter is the Vice President's residence is a lot cooler.
Pure podcast banter, but it landed: clips went viral within hours, conservatives had a field day with "Newsom-Biden 2028" memes, and the internet did the rest.
đĄNobody's launching a campaign here â but in a Democratic field this wide open, even a joke ticket gets traction.
đ Awkward! Mayor Bass's Brother Sues... Mayor Bass's City
Karen Bass's older brother Kenneth, 78, just joined the mass lawsuit against Los Angeles over the Palisades Fire â the same fire that's become a political liability for his sister mid-reelection campaign.
The suit blames the city and LADWP for an empty Santa Ynez Reservoir and poor vegetation management, leaving firefighters without water pressure when the Bass family's 40-year Malibu home burned down.
City Hall's response: "nothing new," just one of thousands of plaintiffs.
đĄWhen your own brother sues the city you run, over the fire that's already haunting your campaign, "no comment" stops being an option.
đ¤ CODES & POWER
Tech Wars, Crypto Chaos, and AIâs Black Mirror Moments
đ¤ Bezos's AI Startup Hits $41B... With Zero Products
Prometheus, Jeff Bezos's "physical AI" startup, just raised $12B at a $41B valuation â seven months after launching in stealth.
Total raised: $18B+. Backers include JPMorgan, BlackRock, and Goldman Sachs.
The pitch: an "artificial general engineer" that compresses years-long design cycles (jet engines, drugs, chips, spacecraft) into months.
𪢠No shipped products yet â just simulations and a very large check.
đ¤ Coinbase Lets AI Agents Trade Your Crypto
Coinbase just launched "Coinbase for Agents," letting AI models â ChatGPT, Claude, custom bots â autonomously trade across 900+ assets, rebalance portfolios, and (soon) make payments on your behalf. Just type "rebalance my portfolio" and walk away.
Guardrails exist: spending limits, isolated sub-accounts, dry-run previews.
CEO Brian Armstrong's bet: Agents will out-trade humans, and crypto's the only rail they can actually use.
Shares popped ~3% on the news.
đĄ We've officially entered the era where your portfolio's biggest risk might be your own AI getting bored.
đş FUN FACTS & TRIVIA
Did You Know?
As a schoolboy at Repton School in Derbyshire (around the early 1930s), Roald Dahl and his classmates were regularly used by Cadbury as taste testers.
The company would send boxes of experimental chocolate bars (typically one standard bar plus new test flavors) for the boys to sample and rate.
This experience later inspired Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.