Mag 7 sell-off, Wiz rejects Google, UBI, Kamala in, China's nuclear buildout, Sacks responds to PG

Wiz rejected Google’s $23 billion acquisition offer even though its last valuation was $12 billion and annual recurring revenue was about $500 million. With management reportedly targeting roughly $1 billion ARR next year, the episode framed the decision as a bet that remaining independent could create far more value than selling now.

The Sam Altman-backed cash experiment produced surprisingly little durable change despite giving 1,000 low-income adults $1,000 a month for three years. The episode cited short-lived gains in stress and food security, no lasting health improvement, a 2% labor-participation decline, and a 5% increase in business formation by year three.

CrowdStrike’s faulty Windows update became a vivid example of how one security vendor can create system-wide operational risk. The episode said 8.5 million machines were affected, Delta canceled more than 6,000 flights, the Transportation Department opened an investigation, and CrowdStrike lost roughly $24 billion in market value.

David Sacks rejected Parker Conrad’s claim that he engineered a coup at Zenefits, saying the founder’s departure followed a widening regulatory crisis. Sacks said regulators examined company emails and sworn testimony and sanctioned Conrad; he said his cleanup took one year and ended with $200 million cash and $60 million ARR.

David Friedberg said he had learned of a board that blocked a Jewish member from becoming chairman because leaders feared protests and controversy. He said the decision was explicitly tied to the climate around Gaza, giving the episode its most concrete example of political tension changing a real institutional leadership choice.

China’s commercial pebble-bed nuclear reactor passed a full loss-of-cooling safety test without melting down, according to the episode’s science segment. The 210-megawatt reactor began construction in 2012, entered commercial operation in December 2023, and uses uranium-filled graphite pebbles plus helium cooling to prevent runaway temperatures.

The episode’s larger nuclear argument was that cheap electricity is becoming a decisive industrial advantage for China, especially for AI and manufacturing. Friedberg said China has about 3 terawatts of capacity versus roughly 1 in the U.S., while its 2050 plan reaches 8.7 terawatts and includes an enormous nuclear buildout.

At the time of the episode, Rupert Murdoch was trying to rewrite his family trust so Lachlan would control the media empire instead of sharing power with three siblings. The dispute was headed to court under a good-faith requirement, making control of Fox and News Corp inseparable from a family succession battle. (reuters.com)