Oracle’s bloodbath, Musk’s SpaceX, company “overstaff” gaslight, Jamie Dimon says
Story of the Week (DR):
Elon Musk's SpaceX set to go public in $1 trillion share listing
Elon Musk’s rocket and satellite company SpaceX has confidentially filed for an initial public offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission
The firm could seek a valuation of $1.75 trillion with a public listing around June.
A confidential filing means that SpaceX will submit its financials to the SEC before revealing them to the public, which must occur at least 15 days before the IPO roadshow.
Musk owns 42% of the SpaceX now, according to Pitchbook, though that figure will change with the IPO when new owners are issued shares.
Among current SpaceX owners is Donald Trump Jr, the president’s oldest son. He owns a shares through 1789 Capital. That venture capital firm made him a partner shortly after his father won the presidency for a second time and has been buying up federal contractors seeking to win taxpayer money ever since.
The White House and Trump himself have repeatedly denied there are any conflicts of interest between his role as president and his family’s businesses.
Public investors may get low-vote shares, while insiders could hold super-voting stock with roughly 10 to 20 votes per share, if the reported structure is adopted.
Reports suggest SpaceX has been adding board members as it prepares for the IPO process.
The company’s board has historically included Elon Musk, Gwynne Shotwell, Antonio Gracias, Luke Nosek, Steve Jurvetson, and Donald Harrison in reporting about its governance.
Gwynne Shotwell is widely reported as president and COO, and Bret Johnsen as CFO
Big Banks Seeking a Piece of SpaceX’s I.P.O. Must Subscribe to Elon Musk’s
Musk is requiring Wall Street firms to purchase subscriptions to his A.I. chatbot if they want to advise on one of the largest initial public offerings in history.
Air Canada CEO will retire this year after his English-only crash message was criticized
Michael Rousseau is stepping down following a massive public outcry after he delivered a condolence video almost entirely in English regarding a fatal plane crash that killed a French-speaking pilot.
Critics and politicians, including Quebec’s Premier, were outraged that Rousseau failed to fulfill a high-profile 2021 promise to learn French, viewing his English-only response to a tragedy as a sign of deep cultural disrespect.
Air Canada’s board has launched a global search for a successor and explicitly stated that fluency in both English and French is now a non-negotiable requirement for the next CEO.
The company clarified that while a "comprehensive internal development program" has been in place for two years, the recent controversy accelerated the timeline for his departure.
Rousseau will officially retire at the end of the third quarter (September 30, 2026), staying on until then to ensure a "seamless transition" and assist the board during the handover.
Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau initially stated he did not intend to step down following backlash over an English-only video regarding a runway incident
Elon Musk called the decision “crazy” and suggested “it is not reciprocal.”
“There are many one-sided laws in Canada that mandate French at the expense of English,” he posted to X, along with a Grok answering his request to provide a list of Canada’s French language laws and explain “how this is hypocritical compared to no English mandate laws.”
“Extremely hypocritical and unfair!”
Oracle Corp.’s mass layoffs on Tuesday were part of the company’s cost-cutting measures as it continues to build out expensive data centers for powering artificial intelligence.
But one aspect of the mass layoffs — which were estimated to be as many as 30,000 people — was alerting workers over email at 6 a.m. Eastern that Tuesday would be their last day.
The terse message, sent to workers in multiple regions and time zones, carried no executive name and was instead signed off simply as 'Oracle Leadership.'
“We are sharing some difficult news regarding your position.
After careful consideration of Oracle's current business needs, we have made the decision to eliminate your role as part of a broader organizational change. As a result, today is your last working day.
We are grateful for your dedication, hard work, and the impact you have made during your time with us.
After signing your termination paperwork, you will be eligible to receive a severance package subject to the terms and conditions of the severance plan. You will receive an email from DocuSign to your Oracle email address with details on your severance and termination date.
Immediate Action Required
To receive important follow-up information, including FAQs and separation documents to help you through this transition, you must provide a personal email address.
Please click here to submit a personal email address immediately. If you make a submission error, please re-submit a new form. Please Note: The personal email address will only be used for correspondence regarding separation-related information and severance agreements.
Access to your computer, email, voicemail, and files will be deactivated soon, and you will be unable to log into your computer. As a reminder, you are prohibited from downloading, copying or retaining (including emailing yourself) any Oracle confidential information.
Thank you for your contributions to our organization. If you have additional questions, please reach out to the HR team via the Ask HR page or at (888) 404-2494.
Oracle Leadership”
“After careful consideration of Oracle’s current business needs, we have made the decision to eliminate your role,” an email to one affected employee, obtained by MarketWatch, read.
Survivors of the cuts were allegedly told by senior management that they would need to 'ramp up efficiency' and 'stretch' to cover the workload left by departed colleagues, a suggestion that many are resisting.
Allegations that automated tools influenced redundancy decisions have become a central issue in the fallout.
Iran Claims Oracle Strike in UAE as Dubai Attack Fears Escalate
Anti-DEI crusade:
Trump ousts Pam Bondi as attorney general
Trump Tells Karoline Leavitt She's 'Doing a Terrible Job,' Asks 'Should We Keep Her?'
Is Kash Patel Getting Fired? FBI Director Might Be Next After Pam Bondi Ousting
Hegseth ousts top Army general
Army Chief of State Gen. Randy George.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the Army’s chief of staff had recently clashed over promotions, leading to his eventual ouster.
Hegseth reportedly told Gen. Randy George to pull the names of four Army officers from a list of promotions to the rank of one-star general. The list consisted of about three dozen officers, most of whom were white men. However, two of them were Black and two were women, and those were the names Hegseth wanted removed.
According to The New York Times, George refused, citing the officers’ history of exemplary service. George reportedly asked Hegseth to meet two weeks ago to discuss the matter, but Hegseth declined. The defense secretary then struck the officers’ names from the promotion list, even though it’s not clear he has the authority to do so, per The Times.
Hegseth has repeatedly taken steps to block or delay the promotions of Black and female senior officers in all four branches of the military.
Secretary of the Army
Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer
Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll (26th Secretary of the Army)
2004–2007 Student (B.S. Business Administration)
2007–2011 Military service: Officer
2011 Investment Banking Associate
2011–2014 JDCandidateYale Law School
2014–2015 Judicial Clerk
2016–2019 Venture Capital Executive Winston-Salem, NC
2020Congressional Candidate (NC-11)US House of Representatives (Campaign)
2021–2023 Chief Operating Officer (COO) Flex Capital Management LLC
2023–2024 Chief Strategy Officer On Call Physician Staffing
J.D. Vance / Senior Advisor
2024 Senior Advisor Donald Trump Presidential Campaign
2025–26th Secretary of the Army
Christine Wormuth (25th Secretary of the Army)
1995–1996 Presidential Management Intern Department of Defense
1996–2002 Policy Officer / French Desk Officer Office of the Secretary of Defense
2002–2006 Principal (Consulting) DFI Government Services
2007–2008 Staff Director (Jones Commission) Independent Commission on Iraq Security Forces
2008–2009 Senior Fellow Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS)
2009–2010 Prin. Dep. Asst. Secretary (Homeland Defense) US Department of Defense
2010–2012 Special Asst. to the President / Senior Director National Security Council (White House)
2012–2014 Dep. Under Secretary (Strategy, Plans, Forces) US Department of Defense
2014–2016 Under Secretary of Defense for Policy US Department of Defense
2017–2021 Director, International Defense & Security Center RAND Corporation
2021–2025 25th Secretary of the Army
Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR):
DR: Judge rules Trump order eliminating NPR, PBS funding is unconstitutional
DR: United Airlines and flight attendants reached a tentative deal with $740 million in bonuses
MM: Amazon to add 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge for sellers as Iran war drives up energy prices
GO TO A LOCAL STORE!
Assholiest of the Week (MM):
Lying-iest
Chevron and Microsoft Team Up for Giant Texas Gas Power Plant
Team includes Chevron, Microsoft, and ENGINE NO 1
Microsoft pledged to be carbon NEGATIVE by 2050
Since they keep doing things like building gas plants, they’re relying on carbon credits through reforestation to hit their target
So they went out to buy the credits and picked a company called Mombak, a startup that has signed massive reforestation deals for Amazon reforestation but has yet to actually produce a carbon credit yet, has only started in theory, and the company admits there’s still little information on how to quantify the carbon absorption in restoration projects.
Despite that, Microsoft and Google both made massive investments to look green as they build out data farms for AI no one asked for
Engine No 1, meanwhile, after its climate-darling turn at Exxon 5 years ago, has taken its all white male executive team AND board with climate investment banking and VC/PE expertise to partner with Chevron, who celebrated the Big Bullshit BIll that rolled back renewables and decided to happily take Venezuelan oil at the behest of Trump
Investor-iest
First, the results from investors at Starbucks:
Average 95.7% approve of the board
Marissa Mayer, the new and highly interlocked director, got a team high 99% approval
Results were more correlated with drink disclosures by directors than performance metrics
Despite campaigns by New York State, NYC, Mercyside, Trillium, and others to target Beth Ford and Jorgen Knudstorp, as well as advice from ISS to target just Beth Ford (absurd), given labor issues, Andy Campion instead had the lowest vote total at 87% for reasons that are unclear
And of course…
Then, the reason why there was a campaign to vote out directors in the first place:
Starbucks to offer baristas up to $1,200 a year in bonuses
With this nugget:
Baristas at unionized locations are unlikely to see the bonus program right away. At approximately five percent of its U.S. locations where employees have union representation, Starbucks acknowledged that federal labor law requires the bonus program to go through the collective bargaining process before it can take effect. According to CNBC, the two sides have not made meaningful progress at the bargaining table in over a year
AI-iest
Jack Dorsey says he wants 6,000 Block employees reporting straight to him
They already do asshat, you have dual class control
Sam Altman says he 'miscalibrated' the mood of distrust toward AI and the government in the Pentagon deal
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s advice to workers scared of AI: You’re just confusing your job with the tools you use to do it
Larry Ellison Says AI Now Does Oracle's Coding Amid Mass Layoffs—3 Strategic Moves for Tech Workers (Oracle Fires 30,000 With a Cold 6 a.m. Email: Here's What It Said That Devastated Teams)
Marc Andreessen says AI layoffs are a farce: Companies are 75% overstaffed, and AI is the ‘silver bullet excuse’ to clean house DR
“Essentially, every large company is overstaffed,” he said. “It’s at least overstaffed by 25%. I think most large companies are overstaffed by 50%. I think a lot of them are overstaffed by 75%.” He added, “Now they all have the silver bullet excuse: Ah, it’s AI.”
So despite record profits every single year, increasing CEO pay, companies are OVERSTAFFED? They get paid less than inflation, and they have TOO MANY people? Some populist math:
Assume “every large company” is companies with market cap > $20bn (~415 companies)
Total employment as of last year: 27,795,346
Total estimated employed people in US: 162,900,000 (62% labor participation)
“Every large company” is 17% of all US employment
Currently, 7,239,000 unemployed in US
Andreessens mid point - “most large companies are overstaffed by 50%” - means he thinks they’ll blame AI but that they “overemployed” by 13,897,717
He is suggesting they are ALL FIREABLE because they are OVERSTAFFED
Employment goes from 162,900,000 to 149,002,283, unemployment goes to 21,136,717, and the unemployment rate goes to 12% overnight - a 3x increase on the 4% it’s at now
Because Marc Andreessen thinks we’re overstaffed… I wonder why…
Studies historically have shown that the few days after layoffs stocks are down - but it depends on the reason for the layoff. Proactive layoffs (not a result of down financials, for instance) are rewarded
Recent studies show that layoffs actually push stocks UP as time goes one - up to 22% cumulative return over normal 30 days out, and 5% 10 days out.
Let’s assume a 5% bump for all the proactive AI job cut assholes - the Block and Oracles of the world
Other studies show that CEO pay goes up after layoffs if performance improves - so cutting staff for AI pushes stock up, stock up is better performance, CEO pay goes up
Using the CEO pay ratio, the “cost savings” of cutting 14m employees is ~$1.4 TRILLION dollars (that’s $1.4tn no longer in the hands of people who would be buying stuff like food and houses and gas and rubber chickens and inflatable pool floats)
The cuts would add $3tn to market cap of all companies, save $1.4tn in employee costs - the average CEO pay ratio would go from 306 to 319, and the average CEO would make $22m more
This isn’t about overstaffing or AI - this is about CEOs getting paid
Headliniest of the Week
DR: CEO of Epic Games apologizes after laying off employee with terminal brain cancer
DR: BlackRock CEO admits 'woke' era went too far
DR: Raising Cane's CEO says he doesn't care for this one menu item, but had to sell it anyway: he always substitutes coleslaw for an extra piece of toast
MM: New lawsuit alleges DraftKings and FanDuel are digital heroin
MM: Scientists Say Half the World Could Be Nearsighted by 2050, and It’s Not Just Screens. This Indoor Habit May Be Why
SITTING IN THE DARK. This is where we’re at as a society.
Jamie Dimon Says…
Jamie Dimon's warning: More geopolitical risk for America than since WWII
Jamie Dimon blasts remote work as JPMorgan staff revolts over office mandate
Jamie Dimon says JPMorgan could do prediction markets — with big guardrails
Jamie Dimon says the American Dream is ‘slipping out of reach’—and JPMorgan is spending billions to fix it
JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon predicts AI will cut the working week to 3.5 days, cure cancers, and free up time for hobbies
Who Won the Week?
DR: Angry French people in Quebec
MM: Headhunting firms who suddenly can expect as much as 75% of large company employees to be calling them to find them work
Predictions
DR: Air Canada hires a woman who speaks 845 languages who continually apologies for something she never did
MM: Jamie Dimon says speaking French is stupid
