From Marhard.
We're Innovation Money and Power Collie in Silicon Vallet NBN. This is Bloomberg Technology with Caroline Hyde and Ed Ludlow.
And Ed Ludlow in San Francisco. Caroline hides off today. This is Bloomberg Technology. Coming up on the program, IBM's four point six billion.
Dollar deal for Attio.
We'll speak to the company's chief commercial officer about the acquisition. Is Big Blue goes on a buying spree seven deals this year, plus Aston Martin and Lucid strike a deal shares of the company's surge after the luxury names joined forces on the future of electric vehicles. We'll bring you the details and we get the outlook for tech stocks and crypto with Stonex Group chief strategist Kathrine Rooney Vera. It's going a state of play when it comes to
markets really quickly. We're coming off the biggest weekly decline in technology shares since March that week where the banking crisis was unplaying in the session right now now that one hundred is soft by three tens and one percent. There's a big focus on the macro, on economics and what central banks around the world will continue to do in the face of inflation, some outperformance in the US listed shares of Chinese technology companies. To look at the
Golden Dragon up by eight tens and one percent. We're hovering around three point seven percent on the US tenure yield. There was a move into bonds Thursday Friday last week at the expense of technology shares and then Bitcoin holding above thirty thousand US dollars per token. In terms of single movies, it's all about IBM.
It's getting a bit of a boost.
We're up kind of a percentage point there, or there's about on IBM shares. It's all about four point six billion dollar deal for Attio seventh of the year. It kind of fits in with IBM's Highbury cloud strategy. I want to get quick analysis and reaction on this deal from Bloomberg Intelligence senior technology analyst Anirag Rana. Anirag do you think this is a smart move by IBM. I think we might be having some trouble with Aniag right now.
But what we can do is we can pivot and we get the inside scoop on what's happening with this deal. I want to bring a IBM Chief Commercial Officer, Rob Thomas, Rob, you kind of heard the preamble there. This is kind of a move that matches what you've done with red hat hybrid cloud strategy. But just give us the why and when you went shopping for Actio and.
Thanks for having me. Great to be with you. CIOs, CEOs and CFOs are all trying to deal with technology complexity and technology spending. Think of app deal as a virtual command center to understand your technology spend, your cloud spend, and your labor spend. I would say time means everything. Is there a better time to have software that can do that type of analysis? I don't think so every company is thinking about how do I optimize my spend
on technology reduce complexity. I think this is perfect time for what's happened in the market.
You're taking otto from Vista Equity Partners. What role did Robert Smith play in this?
Rob? Was he very active in negotiations?
And can you give me a sense of how he financially benefits from what is an all cash deal?
Right?
Yeah? I think only they can answer the returns question. We've been partners with Aptio for a couple of years and so this is not a new management team. It's not a new company to us. We've been working with him for a number of years now. They were founded in two thousand and seven. And what attracted us to this space is that it's recurring revenues, it's software. These
are big focuses for IBM. It's an attractive growth rate, it has all the attributes that we look for in a deal, and because we were users of the product and because we've been partners, we've got a pretty good idea of what it could do, which is what made this the right time, Rob.
What does the deal tell us about strategy going forward? Seventh deal, there's a lot of emphasis on the kind of buying spree. Will you continue to be active in M and A.
We are always active and open minded about M and A, Like you say, it's the seventh deal of the year, mix of consulting and software, and we're always looking for how to accelerate our strategy around how hybrid cloud and AI. As you may be aware, in May, we announced our generative AI platform, Watson X, so we're thinking about what
are capabilities that we could bring into that. Another thing that was interested about app deal is they collect data that represents four hundred and fifty billion dollars of it spend. We think that is very unique in terms of how we can then help clients together to optimize and manage their spend.
We're kind of calling this m and a Monday. There are some other deals out there as well, but it's been quiet, you know, in tech at least twenty twenty three so far. Do you see yourselves as being opportunistic therefore, in that sense taking advantage of kind of the lack of activity out there.
I think you also have to be patient and you have to run a discipline process. To your point, if you look at the market, over the last couple of years, we've gone through adjustments around interest rates, so for a time it was hard to figure out deals that would make sense as we look at our financial model and what we want to do. But we're open minded that that will start to change, and this is a good example where we saw the right equation for a deal.
But we'll continue to look. Really in the areas that we're focused on, hybrid cloud, automation, data, cybersecurity, sustainability. These are the areas that we're investing in aggressively.
Of those, which is the priority.
You know, a lot of emphasis right now in the field of artificial intelligence generative AI as well.
Do you see yourselves prioritizing that.
I think it's hard to pick one priority because if you link it back to app deio, this is about our thesis around automation, which started nearly two years ago, where we've done deals around robotic process automation, we've done deals around AI operations. This is kind of the third piece to the puzzle. So I wouldn't pick one or the other, but certainly there's a lot happening in generative AI. WATSONEX is about data, it's about building models, it's about
models from IBM, it's about AI governance. So I would say all of those are potential spaces where today we're aggressively building, but we would also look to partner potentially.
The final one on the markets, is there an advantage in going out into the private markets and doing deals with private business versus looking at some of the publicly traded piers of an antio.
It's really not part of our criteria when we're looking at deals. We're looking more at strategic fit. What's the synergy as part of IBM where the ownership resides. It really is not anywhere in our criteria, because those all just things you'll have to work through regardless of where a company sits.
Rob In this AI boom, there's going to be increased demand on the data center and compute side. What are you seeing there in the context of IBM in what times you'll need going forward as well?
I would say, what's interesting, what's happening in compute. It's probably perfect for the strategy we set down three years ago, which is hybrid cloud, because with hybrid cloud, you can run your applications, you can manage your data, and you can do that across any cloud. So now clients with a hybrid strategy, which I think is almost every client now, they can choose the right price and right performance.
Depending on what they want to do.
If you're in just one cloud, you only have that flexibility, so you have to deal with increasing compute costs something like that. We think hybrid cloud is actually perfect for this moment because you can optimize your spend and the economics around how you deploy technology.
And you'll selves in terms of capacity planning. From the data center perspective, how active you being.
We're always thinking about what is coming next. But I would say it's beyond the data center. We announced with General Motors earlier this year work that we're doing around Linux on vehicles, So think of that as as edge computing. So I don't think it's just about data centers. It's about compute can happen anywhere from edge to public cloud to private cloud. We're looking to deploy capital smartly across any of those.
I think the street really likes this At toodeal, you know a lot being complementary of how it fits in with your existing hybrid cloud strategy. But if there's one takeaway you want to leave investors with and why we care about, you know, what is it? What is it that you are sort of most excited about to get this deal closed on.
Every client is trying to put more technology to work for their business, and there's this old rule of thumb that says maybe eighty percent is about keeping the lights on twenty percent for innovation. With app deal and IBM, I think we can change that to free up more dollars for innovation, and that will be just the start of creating more investments for hybrid cloud for AI. So this is really about unleashing innovation.
Ultimately, IBM Chief Commercial Officer, Rob Thomas, Thank you so much for your time on that four point six billion dollar deal.
Aston Martin banking on.
A new partnership with luxury electric car maker Lucid to help lead its growth in the EV market. Lucid will receive more than two hundred and thirty million dollars in stock and cash in exchange for its battery components and other parts.
Joining us to break.
Things down Bloomberg Shaan Okaine, who covers all things EV and also for us out in Austin, Texas. I guess the best place to start shorwe is what does Aston Martin get out of this?
They get them a clearer path to making an actual EV. This is something Aston Martin's bed at for a long time. You go back more than half a decade. They had actually partnered up with a Chinese technology company, le Echo, whose founder was making electric vehicles at the time, and that project sort of went nowhere. They almost got to the point of releasing that car. The repde and then sheld it basically after more strug came in and they've
been kind of stumbling around ever since. He's been trying to write the ship there and raise money to move them into this new world. So this gives them really just a better view of something and honestly access to what is thought of as some of the sort of better powertrain components in an ev rate now right.
You know Lucid, you and I have covered this company for a long time now, and Lucid's always leaned into the idea that they are a technology leader, right the energy density of the pack. And yet you know, Lucid can't get his own house in order from a production perspective. I guess for Lucid, what do they get out of it? They become a supplier of parts.
Yeah, this is something of a return to form to them. I mean, remember, this is a company that was founded something like fifteen years ago as a battery manufacturer and ostensibly with the goal of becoming supplier as a TIVA and they were you know, it took them a long time before they actually decided to go out and try to make their own car and come up with this Lucid brand and that has obviously sort of flipped things around and sort of eaten that original goal to some respects.
But now they're back in that role and it's something that they have talked about for a while. I mean when they were trying to raise money when they were still private, they weren't talk to just about everybody. They almost partnered up with Ford at one point, So this is something that I think has spent a long time coming.
For them coming up.
Japan's government unveiled its six billion dollar deal to buy out and take direct control of the world leader in chip making.
This is bloomberg time for talking tech.
First start education technology firm buid Us begun damage control after losing its auditor and three board members in a week. His billionaire founder reached out to investors to assure them that the Indian startup will finally release long delayed financials and strengthen its accounting processes. And Japan's government unveiled a six point three billion dollar deal to buy out and privatize JSR, taking direct control of the world leader and
chip making. The move could help Tokyo expand its power over compounds essential for making advanced semiconductors like those in missile control systems and Apple's iPhones. Plus, JD dot Com aims to create what it calls an innovative retail division for groceries China's number two e commerce company plans to partner with seven Fresh supermarket chain and group buying platform Pinpin to deliver food to millions and rivals similar business models like Ali Barba.
And speaking of.
Ali Barba, the company panning to seek approval of it his own grocery arms spin off for listing from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in two weeks. This according to hons Kong's Economic Times. Bloomberg's Isabelle Lee in New York with the latest tell me about this spinoff move?
Hi Ted, Hi Ed, I'm sorry, tell thank you you were ed. We're good friends. So this has been the subject of talks for a while now, ever since the historic shakeup that Ali Baba has gone through when it said that it's big conglomerate will split into six Baby Baba's. It was announced earlier this year, so this is among the first in the pipeline. So many were expecting it to be toward the end of this year and it
might just come into fruition. So it will list as early as two weeks, which is July or August, and it will go public in November. Apart from this grocery spinoff, we also have the logistics arm of Ali Baba Taiyo, so that's also looking to go public next year if things go as planned.
Ted Ed you've been watching Ted Lasso. I know you have.
It's okay, miss, I'm not worried about being much faken for Ted. Let's go back to the story we started on JD making a kind of obvious move right to take on Ali Baba.
What's the latest there?
So that is interesting.
So JD had a big meeting last week and recently it said that it will create an independent arm. It will merge at seven Fresh, which is its grocery retail store, with other units to create something like the innovation retail that you said. So, I don't want to say it's meant to compete with Ali Baba's cursory is one off, but it does kind of look like that because to Ali Baba, it's kind of a lot of people compared
to Sam's Club, because it's interesting. It has dine in, it has a delivery, and it has grocery all in one, and maybe that's what JD dot Com is looking to do as well, especially because last year China so growth really didn't pan out as people as expectors of maybe they're banking on this year with this new thing. They had a big meeting last week where they announced it it will create seven listed firms with market values of at least fourteen billion, and this is probably one of them. Men.
I just was looking at the home the NASA Gonen Dragon China Index earlier and there was outperformance. You know, a lot of newsflow related to the US listed shares of China.
Tech, you know Ali Barba JD.
I think there is a lot of focus on the health of Chinese tech right now. In Ali Baba's case, what's the big one we're waiting on? You know, this restructuring, we had, the management changes. What is it that investors are most focused on.
I think they're just really curious about how this will pan out, because again, this is Ali Baba. It's one of the first in China to do this ever since the intense crackdown we've seen from the government where they were getting angry at monopolies, saying that they're being reckless and all that. So Ali Baba's big move was why they see in this kind of a response to the government. It's hard to imagine that this happened just on their own,
especially with the disappearance of Jack Moss. Likely this is with the blessing of the government. So that's what a lot of investors are looking for in China and outside.
How will this play out?
It's historic and maybe this will be the blueprint for other companies. Can JD follow it? Can other big rivals of Ali Baba? Probably follow it? Because this six Baby Baba's it's a lot of people are saying it may be good because it will make more nimble companies. They will have EHCEO board of directors and probably increase share value. Who knows, the six Baby bubbus might even be bigger than the big Ali Baba. As we know, big companies can move a bit slower, So that's really what people
are looking up for. How this will play out down the line.
Bloomberg News Isabelle Lea out in New York. Thank you so much. Welcome back to Bloomberg Technology. I'm Ed Ludlow in San Francisco. I want to get a quick check on the markets. We've sort of seen declines accelerate, particularly on the.
NASDA one hundred.
We're now softer by a percentage point at session lows. The story is that we're coming off the worst week for markets since March, and there's a lot of focus right now on the macro picture what the Fed will or won't do in terms of moving towards rate cutting, and there's a reevaluation on the timing of that that impacts the tech sector. Higher rates discount the present value of future cash flows. That's the story, and it has
been for really long time. Some outperformance in semiconductor stocks. The Philadelphia Semiiconductor Index or socks up eight tenths or seven tenths of one percent, and the US tenure yield holding at around three point seven percent. Bitcoin still above thirty thousand US dollars, remember the story Friday hitting its
highest level in one year. There are two movers to the downside that we're paying attention to, the first being Tesla, its declines also really accelerating beyond five percent now Goldman downgrading the stock too neutral from by the recent run up in the shares were up more than one hundred percent year to date, but also looking at other factors like the declining price of evs Mark Delaney moving probably the four fan list in about a week to downgrade
that stock in Alphabet also downgraded at UBS too neutral from by near term monetization risks in the medium term, talking about this pivot to generative AI in the context of search and what that will do in terms of impacting AD inventories. That's all to say that we should zoom out and get more markets analysis and Catherine Rooney vera Chief Market Strategies as stone X Group. What happened last week? Right, you look at the NASA one hundred.
We have the biggest weekly decline since March, the week where the banking crisis kind of unfolded. Bitcoin hits a one year high Friday. What was driving both of those things?
Well, all signs point to the Federal Reserve driving most of the market action and the expectation of additional right hikes rate hikes being discounted after previous to that, the market had wholeheartedly embraced the idea of rate cuts being the next step for the Federal Reserve.
The dot plot shows that the Fed.
Is expecting two more hikes at twenty five business points each. But even today the markets are not believing the Fed and expecting one rate hike this week. I think economic data are going to be clutch in terms of market movement going forward, whether the economic data from for example, initial jobless claims, core PCE, the Supercore index, all of that coming out this week indicating whether or not the market is right or the FED has got it right.
So I think that's where where the markets are focused, especially as you highlighted on the technical or the technology sector, which has been the foremost front runner of the rally that we've seen here to date.
Catherine, what does the FED need to see in that data to move from hiking to pausing to eventually cutting rates.
There has to be irrefutable evidence that the labor market is rolling over. There has to be a clear trend, not just this data dependency focused on one or two months, a clear trend with regard to the supercore, which is what the FED most looks at X shelter of course, which seems like it's going to start a trend lower.
But there really has to be trends.
With regard to getting to the two percent core PCE target.
This is a FED that has grappled with credibility.
Remember the fiasco with regard to transitory inflation overrunning the easing policy, for I think went long in the tooth by about a year. So I think the markets could be disappointed ed with regard to the Fed's propensity to
prop up economic growth versus inflation. I think this is a FED that really needs to claw back some inflation fighting credibility and more likely than not will hike or hold rates at a terminal rate I estimate of five twenty five, but more likely five point fifty for an extended period of time, longer than what the market is currently discounting. That in itself is negative for stocks, negative for cyclicals, negative for interest rate sensitive sectors, which technology certainly is.
On that note, we're showing them as that one hundred year to day performance up thirty five percent or so.
A big part of that story was just a.
Few single names and it was all AI related. So when you look at the breadth of the market, how do you see investors offsetting that AI height driving us to the upside and then the FED risk to the downside.
Well in the.
Short term, if you believe that the market has further upside, which certainly could if we get very good inflation data showing that the FED maybe doesn't have to go so long or so much higher for longer then you could get additional upside and if you want to play that trade ed, I think that you would want to look at the laggards. So you see this divergence between the NASDAC and small caps, then you could play the laggards
such as small caps financials or energy. My perspective over the course of the next six to twelve months, however, is that we should be disproportionately overweighted on defensive sectors which have not seen a significant run up.
A year to date.
That has been, of course in favor of technology, and as you mentioned, this very narrow breadth of the SMP five hundred's recent surge. So I would say look at defensives this in US equities and specifically look in rates. I mean, you could look at the twos tens steepener play in the treasury curve, hold a position in gold
in cash. I mean, even Bloomberg had this beautiful chart you guys put out where it showed that high grade bonds, earnings, yield, and three month cheaper are all pretty much within a range of twenty to thirty basis points. So I think the risk reward favors being defensives. Defensive over chasing the market.
Another beautiful chart that we've been looking at recently is near term bitcoin. What happened on Friday? What is the driver behind bitcoin right now? I think a lot of people put emphasis right. A lot of people put emphasis on the black Rock filing June fifteenth, that happened. Others points are sort of long term indicators around. Well, all the chaos is out the way now, we can all move on with our lives. But for you, what is driving that risk asset? I think we may have some
technical issues with Catherine Rooney Verra. It's a m and a Monday. It is a Mayhem Monday, but we thank you for your time. Stone X's chief strategists. Interesting conversation. The market's coming up. We're going to talk about guess what generative AI is impact but on the retail space. We're going to go from the public markets to the private markets to talk with N thirteen partner Lizzie Francis, all things VC in our VC spotlight.
That is next. This is Bloomberg all right. Back to that m Anda Monday.
Vibe Data Bricks has agreed to buy generative AI platform Mosaic mL for about one point three billion dollars. The company said in the statement today that struck the deal with the goal of making generative AI accessible to all organizations so they can build with their own tools and their own data. The acquisition expected to close July thirty.
First, let's start deeper.
Into AI, how it's playing out in the VC space and in the context of the consumer. Lizzy Francis, partner and head of operations at M thirteen, has nine hundred million dollars or so in assets under management. So, Lizzie, everything is at the intersection of everything else. But for you, how do you see the world tech, consumer and now generative AI.
Good morning, ED, Thank you so much for having me on today. Yeah, it's just an incredibly exciting time for innovation across the board with AI. But there's no sector that is more ready or ripe for transformation than retail. And I think what we're seeing is that in the last decade or so, commerce has had an unbelievable tailwind at its back, and particularly the adoption of digital for
consumers post COVID. Moving online means that brands and retailers have to meet consumers in multiple places now, and consumers are expecting a great experience, and so what that means is AI can actually impact that in two really ways. The first is it can improve productivity in very rote
ways for very complicated retail businesses. And on the consumer side, it can actually delight consumers by allowing brands and retailers to think about ways that they can better personalized consumer experience and create exciting ways for consumers to remove pain points for them, but also display and show products and services in ways that they have not seen before. And again, all of that is powered by AI and we're seeing really rapid transformation happening this year.
So when you think about potential portfolio companies that you're investing in in the context of consumer facing companies all their technology, are you looking to them to be sort of AI adjacent or AI native companies?
Yeah, it's a great point ed.
We're looking at both, and I think what you'll find is that there are companies being born that are powered by AI, and then there's companies that are really leveraging AI for the application layer. So the way that we're thinking about the future of commerce at M thirteen, and what we're keenly interested in when it comes to investing is where will that transformation occur over the next ten years, and how can I have a deep impact on the consumer.
And so, for instance, we've just recently invested in a company called Pietra, which is a really fantastic one stop shop for entrepreneurs and founders to both ID eight new brands and products and then bring them to market rapidly.
They're entirely powered by AI.
And so what used to be a very long and cumbersome process to launch new products or brands now just takes a matter of days. Right this in retail, those of us who've been in it know oftentimes even internally when you're launching new lines of products that can take up for a year to both ID eight, then source and QA and test. Now imagine all of that happening within days. So ed, you could this weekend sign up
on Pietra. Perhaps you want to launch a new mustache grooming brand, and within days you could have both a fantastic brand, a new design. You could source products and bring it all to market and days.
These are the types of businesses.
Powered by a AI that are really where we're interested in investing. You also have the application layer, so imagine rebuy or max retail two of our portfolio companies that are leveraging AI in very interesting ways. Rebuy is creating a more personalized experience for.
Consumers when they shop.
So imagine for consumers now when they go shop at a brand or a retailer, they could have a totally new store or new experience every day that is personalized for them based on these large data sets that retailers and brands can crunch in real time, leveraging AI in ways that.
They could not before.
You know, Lizzie, we talk on the show Bloomber Technology every day about the energy that AI is given all kinds of subsectors. How has it impacted valuations in the consumer tech space?
What are you seeing?
Yeah, it's really interesting what we're seeing. So obviously this is not twenty twenty or twenty twenty one anymore, but we are seeing that pricing for AI, even at the earlier stage, is higher than it would be another sector, or i should say companies that are powered by AI or are AI driven. And you can see that even in unicorns. For this year, the last five unicorns, three of them are AI.
And then obviously today has been quite a day for M and A.
Right when it comes to AI in the markets, so both at the very early stage in later stage, we're starting to see some really healthy and rich pricing for AI driven companies. Now, having said that, I think it's a really important moment in time for us to realize that much like the adoption of commerce online or mobile or cloud, this is one of those moments in the market where we will see a really rapid pace of
innovation in this particular sector. And even though the pricing is rich, this is one those moments when.
Great companies are born.
And this is what we love to do invest at M thirteen, invest in the very early stage of companies being born during interesting moments that will transform lives over the next decade or more so nineteen ninety nine rich pricing Google, PayPal, eBay. These are transformative brands and businesses that have driven tremendous values. So I think that we'll continue to see this throughout the year and exciting to see again the rapid rate at which these businesses are being born.
What we've tried to do here on Bloomberg Technology in our venture spotlight is us where the innovation's happening and where the check's getting written. You're coming to us from Los Angeles. You know, we associate LA with maybe the entertainment industry TMT and startup innovation in the gaming space.
Is it more than that.
Oh, LA is just a wonderful ecosystem for entrepreneurs and M thirteen is really happy and privileged to have our headquarters here in LA. There's deep roots in the communit here community here on the tech side over the last twenty years of entrepreneurs and founders that have started great businesses.
It's a very close knit.
Community and one of the things we love and an inclusive community. One of the things I love that we've seen over the last decade is we're producing more engineers that are graduating out of our universities. We're seeing that people love to be in a community that supports and nurtures each other at this very earliest stages.
And so I think what you'll find is that.
This convergence of community and technology and venture dollars flowing into the very earliest stages with a diverse and interesting group of founders across commerce, chierpoint at media, technology, we will see many new brands being born here and many great new businesses to invest in.
When we cover consumer tech and the program. There's often an association with celebrity endorsement, you know, from a VC perspective or just a product perspective.
Is that something that you're encounter as well?
I think there's always a great story to be told, and I think yes, and LA lends itself to incredible celebrities who can share and amplify that story.
You know, and you're starting to see now.
That you didn't see twenty years ago, that people realize they can quickly move to market if they have a passion or conviction around.
A particular area.
Obviously, like Honest Company or other folks that have celebrities spokespeople. You know, if you're really passionate about something, why not amplify and use your voice. We have an incredible portfolio company at M thirteen called Life Force, which has Tony Robbins behind it, and you know, being able to leverage Tony's community as well and amplify the message and value
proposition of life Force, that's an unbelievable opportunity. So again, I think all of these things make sense and we'll continue to see this scale and evolve over time.
Lizzie Francis, Partner in head of box at M thirteen coming to us from Los Angeles.
You know, we don't do that as often. On Venure Spotlight.
Interesting conversation about this startup ecosystem there, Thank you so much.
There are really a tremendous number of changes between the last Starship player and this one, earing well over one thousand, So I think the probability of this next like working is getting to orbit is much higher than the last one. You know, maybe it's like sixty percent.
So that was Elon Musk speaking over the weekend on a Twitter spaces with Bloomberg's actually advanced saying SpaceX has a much better chance now after making over a thousand changes to Starship. Let's bring in Bloomberg's Lauren Grush space reporter.
What a way to spend a Saturday morning.
But but what did we learn about out these changes that SpaceX is made to Starship?
Right, So Elon highlight a few of those changes. Perhaps the biggest one that he talked about was that the SpaceX is going to implement something called hot staging. So for non rocket enthusiasts out there, if you watch the last Starship launch, they had a bit of a problem with the staging that's when the starship the top of the vehicle separates from the super heavy booster.
It did not separate as.
Planned during that flight, and the vehicle started twirling out of control. So moving forward, they're going to introduce something
known as hot staging, which sounds kind of interesting. Basically, the engines on the Starship spacecraft, which you can see in that video there on the top, they're going to ignite while the super heavy booster is still attached, and so they It's something that Russians have done with their vehicles before, but it just means they're going to have to take some extra precautions to make sure that top of that super heavy booster.
Doesn't get scorched by those engines.
So that was probably one of the biggest things that we learned. Elon also detailed some updates to the engines that they made. If you remember, plenty of those engines on the the bottom of the booster did flame out during the launch, so hopefully that will prevent that from happening in the future.
Kind of in case you missed it, but we reported Friday afternoon myself and colleagues to the in Tan and Katie Ruth that SpaceX is doing a tender basically selling employee shares or offering them, valuing SpaceX one hundred and fifty billion dollars. You know, the valuation keeps going up. But what was interesting that we reported, Lauren was the cash on the balance sheet about five billion dollars private company.
You get a sense of its financial health. But on the Spaces after that, must did talk about how much they're spending on the Starship program.
What did he say, right?
He said that so far they've invested about two billion, and he expects that to approach three billion dollars this year. And it's no surprise, it's probably no It is the most complicated program that SpaceX has implemented in dates. So when I would expect that number to.
Continue to go up, I guess what's the roadmap from here? You know, Musk always misses his own self imposed deadlines and timelines, but what do we know about the roadmap for more Starship launches?
So I think he very much loves the number six. I don't know if you've noticed, but each time he gives an update, it's six weeks away. So there was no different. During the Spaces he said that the pad upgrade that they'll be doing to starbase.
If you remember when.
They did launch, they quite caused quite a bit of damage to the surrounding area and to their own launch pad when they when they launched. But they're doing a bunch of pad upgrades. He said the expects those to be done in approximately six weeks. But just to remind you that he has said six weeks before. In fact, right after a Starship launched the first time, he said they'd be launching again in four to six weeks.
So taking that.
Whether it's six weeks notice or six minutes notice, Lauren Grush, I know I can always call on you for all things SpaceX Bloomberg'slauren Grush out of Texas. There, thank you so much. That does it for this edition of Bloomberg Technology. Don't forget to recap what has been an m and a focused Monday. We have our podcast wherever you get your podcast, but it is on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, and of course on all of the Bloomberg apps and Bloomberg dot Com. We're one day into what's going to be
a big week for the technology sector. We think about the markets, We're coming off the biggest drop for the Nazak one hundred on a weekly basis since March. We're thinking about the FED, but there is some green shoots and there is some energy in the private markets. We're seeing M and A, but what happens with bench capital. We're going to continue that conversation. A big one coming tomorrow as well. You don't want to miss it. This is Bloomberg Technology