Musk public again, Musk goes to court
Six pieces. SpaceX confidentially filed for an IPO at a $2 trillion valuation, and the public space stocks are repricing the asset class. OpenAI v. Musk went to jury Monday in Oakland. Markets are at records while Iran talks stall. The Iranian regime sentenced another woman to death over the January protests. Cluely's CEO admitted to faking ARR, and YC told founders to stop. And Schiaparelli is the brand of the season.
SpaceX is going public. What it means for the industry.
SpaceX confidentially filed for an IPO in mid-April, targeting a valuation between $1.75 and $2 trillion making it the largest IPO in history. It’s reportedly planned for June 8, with shares trading in late June or early July.
It’s already had an impact on public markets too. Planet Labs is up more than 1,000% over the past year and 75% year-to-date as of mid-April. Rocket Lab is up 313% over twelve months on $602 million in 2025 revenue and a $1.85 billion backlog. AST SpaceMobile is up 372% after posting $54 million in Q4 2025 revenue. All three jumped again after the SpaceX filing news.
The thesis is SpaceX going public validates the commercial-space sector as a place for institutional money. Things like Vanguard funds, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds: all of them will need exposure once it trades, and that extends to smaller space names that already trade publicly.
It’s worth doing your research and considering any adjustments to your portfolio now if space fits into your investment thesis. Many of these companies could be considered speculative and very high risk so there is no intention or insinuation of a recommendation intended here!
Musk v. Altman: jury seated, opening arguments Tuesday
Elon Musk has a civil lawsuit against OpenAI and Sam Altman that went to jury selection on Monday in Oakland. The judge seated a nine-person advisory jury by the end of the day, and opening arguments start on Tuesday.
The case is the largest civil dispute in tech history. Musk is suing for damages and structural remedies, arguing that OpenAI's conversion from nonprofit to for-profit status violated the company's founding agreement and enriched insiders at the expense of donors and the public.
If Musk wins, it could force OpenAI to roll back the for-profit conversion. That outcome reorders the entire AI industry's corporate structure. Every model lab that has done a similar pivot becomes a legal target. If Musk loses, the conversion playbook is endorsed and every nonprofit-to-for-profit lab feels safer.
Musk's lawyers also have access to internal OpenAI communications that have never been public. The Washington Post reported the trial will expose Silicon Valley secrets the industry has spent two years burying. This is curious and we will be waiting for what's to come.
Markets at records as Iran stalls
Markets hit new records Monday. The S&P 500 closed at 7,173.91, up 0.12%. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.20% to 24,887.10.
Trump scrapped a planned envoy trip to Islamabad on Saturday, posting to Truth Social shortly after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi left Pakistan. Witkoff and Kushner were supposed to be there for a second round of Iran negotiations. Trump cited "time-wasting" and Iran's leadership being too fractured to make headway. Iran's proposal reportedly included reopening the Strait of Hormuz and ending the war, but deferred nuclear talks. Trump said Iran offered "a lot, but not enough."
Oil moved on the news. Brent reached $106.37 on Monday, up 0.9%. Goldman raised its Brent forecast to $90 a barrel by late 2026, up from $80, citing disruptions to Persian Gulf flows that are more persistent than earlier assumed. Hormuz has been near-closed since February 28.
This is now an eight-week disruption to one of the world's most important oil routes, and the response has been a record high in US equities. Confusing to say the least.
Iran sentenced another woman to death this weekend
The Iranian regime sentenced Maryam Hodavand, a 45-year-old mother of two, to death by Branch 26 of Tehran's Revolutionary Court. The charges are tied to a mosque fire during the January 2026 protests and include "participation in the killing of two Basij members," intentional arson, destruction of public property, and "assembly and collusion against national security." She was denied access to an independent lawyer. Her conviction relied on confessions human rights groups say were obtained under duress.
Hodavand is the third female political prisoner sentenced to death over the January protests. Ameneh Soleimani, a physician arrested for treating wounded protesters, is also facing a death sentence. The pattern of murdering female protesters has accelerated through the spring.
Hodavand's case has been referred to the Supreme Court on appeal. There is no timeline.
Cluely faked its ARR. Y Combinator told founders to stop.
The most influential accelerator in tech just told founders to be truthful about revenue, which is a polite way of saying the AI fundraising cycle has a measurement problem.
The named example is Cluely, the AI startup whose CEO publicly admitted the company inflated annual recurring revenue from $5.2 million to $7 million.
Around the same time, Garry Tan, CEO of Y Combinator, published “Being Truthful And Precise About Revenue” on X, telling founders to stop fudging revenue metrics. It is ridiculous that founders need to be reminded of this, but the manipulation is not theoretical. We have seen it firsthand.
The issue is that ARR is not an official accounting term. It sounds precise, but it gives startups and their executives room to shape the number in ways that make the business look more mature, recurring and durable than it actually is.
Real ARR should mean contracted, recurring revenue that has been invoiced and paid on a repeatable schedule. Revenue run rate is something else. A pilot that might renew is something else. Usage that spiked for one month is something else. Signed interest, unpaid contracts, expansion assumptions and one-off implementation fees are definitely something else.
Calling all of that ARR is not harmless optimism. It changes how investors price companies, how employees value equity, and how founders benchmark themselves against peers who may be playing the same game.
Cluely is the cleanest named example so far. It will not be the last.
For investors, operators and anyone evaluating an AI startup right now, the question is no longer “what is your ARR?” The question is: how much of that number is actually recurring, contracted, invoiced and paid?
Schiaparelli is a brand to watch
TIME published the first annual TIME100 Companies: Industry Leaders list this week, naming the most influential companies in fashion and beauty.
Schiaparelli is the most important to know if you have not been paying attention. The French house, founded in 1927 by Elsa Schiaparelli, sat largely dormant for decades. Then Daniel Roseberry took over as creative director in 2019 and rebuilt the house around surrealist couture. The 2021 Bella Hadid Cannes red-carpet moment (gold lung necklace) was an inflection point. Schiaparelli has been couture week's most photographed house since.
Roseberry has expanded from couture into accessories and ready-to-wear in the past 18 months without diluting the brand. Eyewear, small leather goods, jewelry: all carry the house's visual signature without feeling like fast-diffusion lines.
The other notable list entry: Seoul-based APR posted $1 billion in 2025 revenue, 80% of which came from overseas sales, signaling K-beauty's real consolidation moment. Medicube expanded into haircare in February, telling you scalp care is the next category.
