Episode summary
Strongly Worded Letters | Money Stuff: The Podcast
Money Stuff The Podcast
· · 31 min · Hosts: Matt Levine, Katie Greifeld · Guests: Boaz Weinstein
Summary
The episode centers on SpaceX’s fixed-price IPO at $135 a share and the strange mix of public and private-market pricing that has formed around it. The host and the guest argue that the offering was effectively priced a week earlier, while secondary markets and offshore prediction-style venues have already been implying values above the IPO price. They also note that S&P declined to fast-track SpaceX into its index, which could leave other index providers and active managers with very different benchmark exposures for a long time.
A big theme is how much governance investors are willing to tolerate. The guest says SpaceX’s structure leaves shareholders with little recourse beyond buying in or walking away, which makes ESG and activist debates feel almost symbolic. The discussion widens to OpenAI and Anthropic, where the guest sees a renewed wave of companies considering public listings after years of “private forever” talk.
The second half turns to federally regulated sports gambling and the CFTC’s proposed rules. The host and guest walk through why the regulator is banning bets on little league, fights, injuries, and assassination-adjacent contracts, all in the name of market integrity. The show closes with Boaz Weinstein’s Supreme Court loss over closed-end fund voting rights, framed as a technical defeat that shifts the burden back to the SEC.
Key takeaways
- The guest says SpaceX was effectively priced at $135 a share before the IPO opened, with secondary and betting markets implying even higher values.
- S&P’s decision not to fast-track SpaceX could leave the major indexes diverging sharply for years, which the guest says helps active managers benchmark against it.
- The host and guest argue that SpaceX’s governance is so restrictive that investors can mostly only “take it or leave it.”
- The CFTC’s proposed sports-betting rules would bar contracts on little league, fights and injuries because of manipulability and market-integrity concerns.
- Boaz Weinstein’s Supreme Court defeat turns on enforcement: the Court said the statute has no private right of action, leaving the SEC to act instead.
Notable quotes
“the price is 135 per share. Take it or leave it”
“The market is kind of saying like you've done it perfectly, Elon Musk. You got it right on the first try”
“You either buy the shares and just trust Elon or you don't buy the shares”
“these are market integrity questions right”
“the Supreme Court said didn't even address his argument they were just like you don't have a right to sue under this statute”
How the episode opens
Bloomberg Audio Studios podcasts, radio, news. — How about them Nicks? — Yeah, — Michael R. Bloomberg photographed next to Timothy Shalamé and Kylie Jenner. That was a highlight for me. Taylor Swift was also there. Paul Tudtor Jones was behind her. What an interesting cast of characters on Celebrity Row.
It's funny. I feel like I've seen a number of articles about who was there on Celebrity Row. None of them mentioned Paul Tudtor Jones. — He was there. — That's the kind of insight you need to come to Bloomberg for.
I went to bed at halftime and the vibes were that of a funeral. It was so bad. — Then they changed. — Oh my goodness, did they change. I woke up at like 1:00 in the morning and uh I couldn't believe it.
Can I tell you something cute? My kids love sports and my youngest son um loves basketball, but like he is he is particularly enamored of half court shots and he has like got it in his head that um like a half court shot is the best thing in basketball. And so when like you know they go to bed before the Knicks games, but like they they come downstairs in the morning and we're like the Knicks won 107 106.
It was a huge comeback. And he's like were there any half court shots?
Otherwise I'm not interested. That's pretty cool. — And then like one day in like the the previous fur series, I could be like, "Yes, WBY made a half court shot at the first half." — We don't speak his name. — Yeah. Well,
Hello and welcome to the Money Stuff podcast. I'm Matt Lavine and I wrote the Money Stuff column for Bloomberg Opinion.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- spacex ipo pricing
- cash-settled derivatives gambling
- s&p no-fast-tracking decision
- index divergence
- market integrity and trade-through rule
Companies and tickers mentioned
- SPGI
- SpaceX
- S&P Global
Watch the episode
Watch “Strongly Worded Letters | Money Stuff: The Podcast” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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