OpenAI, SpaceX, Anthropic: the tech giants lining up blockbuster IPOs Tech For more than a decade, Silicon Valley’s most powerful companies have stayed private for longer than ever before, buoyed by deep pools of capital and sovereign wealth funding. But, as interest rates remain higher, AI infrastructure costs balloon and some of the world’s largest private firms mature into businesses of national, and increasingly geopolitical, importance, [...]
Meet the lawyer that launched Mayer Brown into Space (law) Legal Fifteen years ago, Rachael O’Grady, an arbitration lawyer, had a blown-up satellite operator case land on her desk, a case that would pique her interest and ultimately lead to the creation of a space practice at Mayer Brown. “Given my international law background, I started thinking about space and how that might interact with international [...]
Markets are ignoring global instability – but a reckoning looms Opinion Despite simmering political crises and looming economic risks, markets are riding a low-volatility sugar high – fuelled by central bank interventions – but the longer reality is ignored, the sharper the eventual correction, says Helen Thomas With markets taking an early summer holiday, basking in the glow of record highs for the S&P500, it can [...]
In Musk v Trump, the markets will win June 6, 2025 City AM columnist Rainer Zitelmann has been predicting a rift between Musk and Trump ever since the two started working together. Now that this has happened, the French daily newspaper L’Express has spoken to him again. The interview was conducted by Thomas Mahler. “I never believed that the alliance between Elon Musk and Donald Trump would last,” [...]
Trump and Musk: Explosive row engulfs Washington June 5, 2025 The relationship between US President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk has descended into threats, abuse and accusations. A disagreement over the merits of Trump’s tax and spending legislation has turned into a dramatic feud, with Trump saying he was “surprised” at Musk’s criticism of his “big, beautiful” bill. “Elon and I had a great [...]
How capitalism will conquer space May 29, 2025 The world’s first trillionaire will be the head of a space-based business, predicts Rainer Zitelmann Space is the most undervalued industry in the world. It is particularly unappreciated in Europe, which has now fallen hopelessly behind the United States and China. The US carried out 153 launches last year, China 68 and Europe three. The [...]
Elon Musk retaliates against Tesla backlash May 21, 2025 Elon Musk has issued a stark warning to those behind violent attacks against Tesla, vowing criminal consequences for what he described as “evil” acts of politically motivated vandalism and threats. Speaking in a virtual interview at the Qatar economic forum on Tuesday, the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive said he had taken the recent wave [...]
Britain’s space launch programme could be thwarted by NATO May 19, 2025 Aspirations of UK space launch will soon collide with the new geopolitical realities of global security, writes Susan Walton.
Schiehallion: Value of Spacex stake in Baillie Gifford trust skyrockets March 26, 2025 Baillie Gifford’s Schiehallion trust marked up the value of its holdings in Elon Musk’s Spacex by 86 per cent last year, as the trust worked to close the gap between its share price and underlying assets. The valuation of Spacex, which makes up 9.4 per cent of Schiehallion’s portfolio, has increased by more than 600 [...]
Baillie Gifford slashes Tesla stake as investor calls on Musk to step down March 19, 2025 Baillie Gifford has slashed its stake in Tesla to a record low as a major shareholder has called on CEO Elon Musk to step down from the company. The Edinburgh-based investment manager first invested in Musk’s electric car company in 2013 and has been a strong backer of the billionaire’s firms ever since. However, a [...]