Trump cutting NASA budget by 20%+
Despite SpaceX's success being built partly on a 2008 NASA grant, Trump is trying to cut NASA's budget by more than 20%.
Snapshot · Pivot
The White House UFC Fight, SpaceX’s Big Pop, and Fox’s Roku Deal
Explore episode
Jun 16, 2026
Where this was said
SpaceX IPO: Manufactured Scarcity, 4,000 Millionaires, and a Trillionaire
At 34:06 · chapter starts 28:50
Scott Galloway had called it: SpaceX would manufacture a 20% first-day pop, and at 19.something percent it was almost perfectly on target, though the stock kept climbing another 11% the following day. [1] — Scott Galloway "SpaceX engineered a near-perfect 20% first-day IPO pop by floating just 5% of shares against unprecedented demand — a trick Scott Galloway …" 28:50 The mechanism was unprecedented manufactured scarcity: only 5% of shares floated against tens of billions in demand — nothing like it has ever been seen in IPO history. Shares hit $177 on debut day, pushing market cap to $2.32 trillion and crossing Elon Musk over the trillion-dollar net-worth threshold. Over 500 million shares traded on day one. Gina Rinehart committed over a billion, Cathie Wood's ARK bought $500 million-plus. Scott celebrates the genuine economic benefits — 14 new Texas billionaires, a surge in philanthropy likely to follow liquidity events, inspiration for space-sector entrepreneurs, and $7.5 billion in venture funding now flowing into the sector. He also issues a critical governance note: different classes of shares and soft lockups tied to platform trading are technically not allowed and raise real questions. His sharpest point lands on the irony that Uncle Sam — specifically a 2008 NASA grant that saved SpaceX from bankruptcy — is the best venture capitalist in history, just as Trump seeks to cut NASA's budget by over 20%. Kara pushes back on the expected philanthropy, warning Musk-era billionaires are more likely to channel wealth into political activism. Scott agrees Musk can probably decide who the next president is — he spent $250 million last time and is now worth infinitely more.
SpaceX IPO: Manufactured Scarcity and 4,000 New Millionaires
SpaceX engineered a near-perfect 20% first-day IPO pop by floating just 5% of shares against unprecedented demand — a trick Scott Galloway called before it happened. The result: Elon Musk became the world's first trillionaire, 4,000 employees became millionaires, and the stock kept climbing.
SpaceX market cap: $2.32 trillion
SpaceX shares hit a high of $177 on their first day, giving the company a market cap of $2.32 trillion.
SpaceX venture funding jump: $7.5B
Venture funding for U.S. space technology firms excluding SpaceX jumped to $7.5 billion in 2025, up from $1.5 billion the previous year.
Uncle Sam: The Best VC in History — Now Getting Its Budget Cut
The greatest venture capitalist in history isn't Andreessen Horowitz or Peter Thiel — it's the U.S. federal government. Scott Galloway points out that a 2008 NASA grant saved SpaceX from bankruptcy, the same pattern that applies to Tesla and mRNA vaccines. Trump is now cutting NASA's budget by over 20%.
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