The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway
The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway

The Week: SpaceX, Iran, and the World's First Trillionaire

June 19, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

The Week: SpaceX, Iran, and the World's First Trillionaire

SpaceX went public this week at $150 a share, jumping 11% on opening day and briefly surpassing Amazon in market value. Elon Musk became the world's first trillionaire. But Scott Galloway wasn't celebrating. He called the IPO "financial engineering" rather than a genuine market event, pointing to two unusual concessions Musk extracted from Nasdaq. First, Nasdaq waived its standard 12-month waiting period for inclusion in the Nasdaq 100, meaning SpaceX was immediately added to the index. With roughly $50 trillion in market cap across the Nasdaq 100, index funds tracking it now had to allocate about 4% of assets under management into SpaceX stock, creating $20 to $50 billion in artificial demand that no normal IPO benefits from. Second, SpaceX issued only 5% of its shares instead of the traditional 10%, manufacturing scarcity on top of manufactured demand. "I would look at this as a trade, not as an investment," Galloway said, "because eventually that manufactured scarcity begins to leak."

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (02:32) **SpaceX IPO and the World's First Trillionaire** - The largest IPO in American history lands, with SpaceX opening at $150 a share and briefly surpassing Amazon's market cap, making Elon Musk the world's first trillionaire.
  • 2 (05:03) **OpenAI's Staggering Financial Losses** - Leaked financials reveal OpenAI spent $34 billion to make $13 billion last year, losing $21 billion from operations.
  • 3 (06:42) **Howard Marks on AI and Historical Bubbles** - The Oaktree Capital co-founder warns that AI exuberance may be producing a "money losing bubble," comparing it to railroads, radio, and the internet.
  • 4 (12:10) **The Iran "Breakthrough"** - After 107 days of war, the US and Iran announce a "framework" for a deal, not a final agreement, with a 60-day negotiating period.
  • 5 (15:12) **Heather Cox Richardson on Expertise and Power** - Scott and the historian discuss the erosion of trust in institutions and the rise of leaders who dismiss credentialed expertise.
  • 6 Standout Quotes
  • 7 (07:13) "If this technological innovation with its exuberance doesn't produce a money losing bubble, it'll be the first." — Howard Marks

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Guests on this episode

Scott Galloway Jessica Tarlov Ed Zitron Howard Marks Heather Cox Richardson

Show Notes

We're back with another episode of The Week, a new weekly show from Prof G Media, hosted by George Hahn.


Every Friday, we break down the biggest stories shaping business, technology, politics, and culture — and connect the dots across the conversations happening throughout the Prof G universe.


This week: SpaceX becomes the largest IPO in history and makes Elon Musk the world's first trillionaire. Then, after 107 days of war, the U.S. and Iran announce a framework agreement that leaves the biggest questions unresolved. And finally, historian Heather Cox Richardson joins Scott to discuss expertise, institutions, and America's future at 250.

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The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway

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