Launch Of The NASA Probe Europa Clipper To Jupiter

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center. SpaceX has done tender offers to give its employees liquidity while staying private (Manuel Mazzanti/Getty Images)

ROCKETING

SpaceX’s valuation has reportedly jumped ~$100 billion in about four weeks

An internal share sale could see Musk’s rocket-launching co. valued at $350 billion.

Tom Jones

12/4/24 6:46AM

Lift off… and off… and off again

In mid-October, SpaceX successfully “caught” its Super Heavy, 230-foot-tall rocket booster with a pair of giant metal “chopsticks” — an achievement that could have dramatic implications for the economics of space flight. Roughly three weeks later, Donald Trump, heavily backed by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, won the presidential election.

Both events seem to have been good for SpaceX shareholders, as the company is reportedly looking at selling shares internally that could value it at $350 billion, just one month after Bloomberg reported that it was considering a similar tender offer at $255 billion.

The latest $350 billion figure would make it the most valuable startup in the world, ahead of TikTok owner Bytedance’s $300 billion valuation, The Wall Street Journal reported.

While SpaceX, or Space Exploration Technologies Corp., is yet to comment on the reported valuation record, it would cap off a pretty remarkable few months for Musk’s various businesses. For instance, X (née Twitter) has recently regained some of the dollar value shed since 2022, while Tesla shares have rallied strongly in the wake of Trump’s election win, up more than 40%.

As the mythically tinged name suggests, “unicorns” — private companies that manage to defy the terrifying statistics about failure rates of new businesses to reach $1 billion valuations — are a rare breed. Adding ~$100 billion to your startup’s valuation in a month? That’s unheard of.

Millie Giles

BATTLE OF THE BRANDS

11h

Which companies have the best and worst reputations, according to Americans?

The 2026 Axios Harris Poll 100 reputation ranking suggests the US prefers Big Tech to Big Media.

Max Knoblauch

5/19/26

Spotify expands its anti-AI verified badges to podcasts

Spotify introduced verified badges for musician profiles in late April.

Spotify Hosts a "Now Playing" Creator Day at its Los Angeles Campus

Tom Jones5/19/26

Demis Hassabis, Google DeepMind’s CEO and founder, was also an early Anthropic investor

A chess prodigy and an actual a knight of the realm in the UK, it’s perhaps no surprise that Demis Hassabis has made some strategic moves about his exposure to AI upside. According to people familiar with the matter, the influential AI architect became an angel investor in Anthropic, currently behind many of the leading AI models, per Arena AI leaderboards.

The Nobel Prize winner’s position in the Claude creator was previously undisclosed and, per the Financial Times, highlights Hassabis’ “growing influence across the AI industry.”

Google, which bought DeepMind, the company that Hassabis cofounded and heads to this day, for a reported ~$400 million in 2014, is also a key Anthropic investor. The tech giant reportedly plans to invest up to $40 billion in the AI company as part of the mutually beneficial relationship the pair have forged, with reports that Anthropic has committed to spending $200 billion in the other direction on Google’s cloud services over the next five years.

I’m playing all sides, so I always come out on top

In addition to his financial support for Anthropic, Hassabis has also invested in a range of AI startups launched by colleagues, such as Inflection AI, a company set up by DeepMind cofounder Mustafa Suleyman (who is now CEO of Microsoft AI), as well as efforts from other collaborators, like David Silver’s Ineffable Intelligence.

Hassabis also emerged as a recurring figure on the fringes of the recent Elon Musk v. Sam Altman trial, cropping up repeatedly in testimonies and court documents and appearing to live, as The Verge put it, “rent-free” in Musk’s head.

Founded in 2021, Anthropic has recently raised funding at a reported $900 billion valuation, sending it soaring ahead of competitor OpenAI.

Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis emerges as early Anthropic investor

The Nobel Prize winner’s position in the Claude creator was previously undisclosed and, per the Financial Times, highlights Hassabis’ “growing influence across the AI industry.”

I’m playing all sides, so I always come out on top

Founded in 2021, Anthropic has recently raised funding at a reported $900 billion valuation, sending it soaring ahead of competitor OpenAI.

Max Knoblauch5/18/26

Jury rules against Musk in lawsuit against OpenAI and Altman

Jurors in Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s lawsuit against Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, and OpenAI found the defendants not liable on all claims on Monday.

In a unanimous verdict reached after less than two hours of deliberation, the Oakland jury found that Musk had waited too long to bring his case forward, exceeding the statute of limitations.

Musk had alleged that OpenAI abandoned its founding mission as a nonprofit dedicated to developing AI for humanity and instead became a profit-driven company closely tied to Microsoft.

The verdict caps off a three-week blockbuster tech trial that could have seen Altman and Brockman removed from OpenAI leadership.

Jury tosses Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI and Sam Altman

Musk had alleged that OpenAI abandoned its founding mission as a nonprofit dedicated to developing AI for humanity and instead became a profit-driven company closely tied to Microsoft.

The verdict caps off a three-week blockbuster tech trial that could have seen Altman and Brockman removed from OpenAI leadership.

Millie Giles

WRIST BUMP

5/18/26

Swatch’s collaboration with Audemars Piguet could help bring hype back to its bottom line

The rival watchmakers have teamed up on a buzzy new collection that’s sparking a global consumer frenzy.