Elon Musk Owns 48.4% of SpaceX — but Controls More Than 82% of the Vote
Elon Musk owns nearly half of SpaceX but maintains overwhelming control of the company, according to a new regulatory disclosure detailing his holdings following SpaceX’s historic public offering. Musk beneficially owned approximately 6.42 billion shares as of June 30, representing 48.4% of the company on an as-converted basis and a position now valued at more than $900 billion. His influence is even greater than that ownership figure suggests. SpaceX’s dual-class share structure gives Musk more than 82% of the company’s voting power, allowing him to maintain decisive control over major corporate decisions despite owning less than half of the company’s economic equity. How Musk Maintains Control The difference comes largely from SpaceX’s Class B shares, which carry substantially more voting power than the Class A shares available to public investors. Dual-class structures are designed to allow founders to raise outside capital without surrendering control of the companies they created, and SpaceX’s structure leaves Musk with an unusually commanding position. The 48.4% figure also requires some context. Musk said following the disclosure that a portion of the shares included in the calculation remain tied to performance conditions and have not fully vested. That means his currently vested ownership is lower than the regulatory figure, although his voting control remains substantial. The disclosure offers investors one of the clearest pictures yet of who controls SpaceX after its June public-market debut. Outside investors now own a meaningful portion of one of the world’s most valuable companies, but the balance of power remains firmly with its founder. For shareholders betting on SpaceX’s future in rockets, Starlink, artificial intelligence and other emerging businesses, they are also making a long-term bet on Musk’s continued control of the company.
Why Borrowing Costs Are Staying High Even as Inflation Cools
Stocks are hitting record highs and inflation has shown signs of cooling, but Americans looking to borrow money are still facing historically expensive interest rates. The disconnect is especially visible in housing, where the average 30-year fixed mortgage remains at 6.67%, according to Freddie Mac, even as investors celebrate improving inflation data and another record for the S&P 500. The reason is that mortgage rates and other long-term borrowing costs aren’t determined solely by what the Federal Reserve does with its benchmark interest rate. They are heavily influenced by the bond market, where investors are demanding relatively high yields to lend money for long periods. This week, the Treasury sold 30-year government bonds at the highest auction yield in 25 years, underscoring how expensive long-term money remains even as shorter-term inflation fears ease. Why Long-Term Rates Are Staying High One major pressure is the enormous amount of borrowing taking place. The federal government continues issuing large quantities of debt to finance budget deficits, while technology companies are also borrowing heavily to fund the AI infrastructure boom. Alphabet, Amazon and Meta alone have raised nearly $220 billion through bond markets so far in 2026. That competition for capital can push yields higher as borrowers offer investors more attractive returns. For consumers, those bond-market pressures can show up in mortgage rates and other forms of long-term credit. A Federal Reserve rate cut or pause can influence borrowing costs, but it does not guarantee that mortgage rates will fall alongside it. Investors also consider inflation expectations, government debt, economic growth and the supply of bonds available in the market when deciding what return they require. That helps explain today’s unusual financial landscape. Investors can push stocks to record highs because corporate earnings and the economy remain relatively resilient while simultaneously demanding higher returns for lending money over decades. For consumers, the message is less celebratory: cooling inflation is encouraging, but bringing borrowing costs meaningfully lower may require more than a friendly inflation report.
Google Is Reshuffling Its AI Empire as the Race for the Best Model Intensifies
Google is reorganizing the leadership of its artificial intelligence operation as it faces mounting pressure to move faster in the increasingly competitive race against OpenAI and Anthropic. The shakeup puts longtime DeepMind executive Koray Kavukcuoglu in charge of day-to-day operations and all Gemini model development, while DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis moves into a more research-focused leadership role. Hassabis, who has led DeepMind for more than a decade, is becoming chairman of Google DeepMind and chief scientist of parent company Alphabet. Kavukcuoglu, previously DeepMind’s chief technology officer and Google’s chief AI architect, will serve as senior vice president of Google DeepMind and report directly to Google CEO Sundar Pichai. The shift gives Kavukcuoglu considerably more control over Google’s effort to turn cutting-edge AI research into products capable of competing at the front of the industry. The restructuring comes amid internal pressure to accelerate Gemini development. Google co-founder Sergey Brin has become increasingly involved in the company’s AI efforts, while some Gemini teams have been moved closer to Google’s broader commercial operations. At the same time, several prominent AI researchers are leaving the company, including longtime Google scientist Jeff Dean, who is departing after nearly three decades to help launch Discovery Loop, a new AI venture focused on scientific discovery. Google is already showing signs of the faster product cadence the overhaul is intended to produce. On Thursday, the company introduced Gemini 3.7 Flash, which Google describes as its most intelligent workhorse model yet for coding and AI agents. The model is designed for tasks that increasingly matter to businesses adopting generative AI, including software development, complex workflows and autonomous systems capable of completing multistep tasks. The stakes extend well beyond which company can claim the top-performing model. Google has enormous advantages in Search, Android, YouTube, cloud computing and its own AI infrastructure, giving it ways to put Gemini in front of billions of users. But OpenAI and Anthropic continue to compete aggressively for developers, businesses and consumers. Google’s leadership overhaul suggests the company is increasingly focused on converting its vast AI resources into faster execution — and making sure the next major shift in artificial intelligence doesn’t happen without it.
The Case for Connection: Why Socializing Matters in Uncertain Times
Social connection can play an important role in protecting mental and physical health, especially during stressful or uncertain times. Research has linked strong relationships to better well-being and lower risks of depression, heart disease and other serious health problems. The benefits don’t require a packed social calendar or dozens of friends. What matters is having relationships that provide a sense of belonging, support and being valued. The CDC reports that roughly one in three U.S. adults experiences loneliness, while about one in four says they lack adequate social and emotional support. Social isolation and loneliness have also been associated with higher risks of depression, anxiety, heart disease, stroke, dementia and premature death. Connection can also help us manage the ordinary pressures of life. A conversation with a friend, dinner with family, a walk with a neighbor or simply spending time around people we trust can provide perspective and emotional support when work, finances, relationships or the broader world feel overwhelming. Strong relationships don’t eliminate stress, but they can make difficult periods feel less isolating and give us people to turn to when we need help. That doesn’t mean everyone needs to become more extroverted. Meaningful connection can be quiet and simple: calling someone you’ve been meaning to check on, joining a community or volunteer group, having coffee with a friend, exercising with someone else or putting the phone away during a conversation. Even small efforts to nurture existing relationships can help rebuild the sense of connection that easily gets lost in busy, digitally saturated lives. The Readovia Lens In uncertain times, socializing can feel optional — something to return to once everything else is handled. The evidence increasingly suggests the opposite. Relationships are part of the foundation that helps people cope, adapt and stay well. We may not be able to control everything happening around us, but making time for the people who matter is one meaningful way to strengthen the life we’re living right now.
When the Work Starts Teaching You
Some of the best ideas aren’t the ones we start with. They’re the ones we discover along the way. Every creative project begins with an intention — a direction, a goal, maybe even an outline. You start building, convinced you know where you’re going. Then, if you stay with the work long enough, something unexpected happens: the project starts showing you possibilities you couldn’t see at the beginning. It happens through the ordinary work of creating — questioning assumptions, refining ideas, removing what doesn’t belong, noticing what still feels incomplete. Eventually you realize the thing you’re making has changed. That may sound backwards, but anyone who has built something meaningful has probably felt it. Some of our best ideas aren’t forced into existence. They emerge because we’ve given the work enough time to develop and ourselves enough time to recognize where it’s leading. When the Better Idea Arrives Later Sometimes we don’t see how an idea is evolving until we’re deeply engaged in developing the work. I experienced this while writing a recent essay about online visibility. What began as a fairly straightforward discussion gradually became something larger. As I worked through it, new concepts started surfacing — digital breadcrumbs, discovery ecosystems, and eventually a simple distinction that became the heart of the piece: “Visibility is an outcome. Discoverability is the strategy.” None of those ideas existed in the opening draft. I didn’t sit down intending to write them. They appeared through the process of writing, reconsidering, and refining what was already there — proof, to me, that the most valuable insights often arrive after the obvious ones have been exhausted. “The irony of our accelerated creative age may be that technology allows us to create faster than ever while our most valuable ideas still refuse to be rushed.” Letting It Simmer In May 2009, during a rehearsal for what would become his final shows, Michael Jackson stopped his band and told them: “We gotta let it simmer. We got a moment where it has to simmer.” It’s a small moment, but it’s stayed with me. The pop legend wasn’t talking about writing, but he could have been. A great article, a memorable speech, a successful business, a meaningful life — none of these are built in a single draft. We create. We review. We tweak. We step away. We review again. Sometimes that space is exactly what allows us to see what the work needs next. Something that seemed essential gets removed, and something we barely noticed becomes the center of everything. “We gotta let it simmer.” What Happens When We Fill Every Quiet Moment? We’ve become remarkably good at eliminating boredom. Waiting in line, check the phone. Sitting in an airport, scroll. A few unexpected minutes alone, there’s always another video, headline, or notification waiting to fill them. Artificial intelligence has only sharpened this instinct. It’s made it possible to brainstorm, draft, and revise faster than ever, which is genuinely useful. But it also feeds the belief that because something can be finished quickly, it should be. Those tiny gaps we’ve engineered away once gave our minds somewhere to wander. Boredom created room for reflection, daydreaming, and unrelated thoughts to bump into one another. Sometimes nothing happened. But sometimes an idea appeared. Original thought doesn’t always cooperate with a deadline. Sometimes it needs to sit overnight. Sometimes the problem you couldn’t solve becomes obvious while you’re driving the next morning. The irony of our accelerated creative age may be that technology allows us to create faster than ever while our most valuable ideas still refuse to be rushed. Perhaps that’s one of the great misconceptions about creativity — that inspiration arrives first and craftsmanship follows. Often the opposite is true. Craftsmanship creates the conditions where inspiration can finally appear. The best creative work isn’t rushed into existence. It’s discovered through the process of making it — and that’s only possible when we’re quiet enough to listen. In the end, the work starts teaching us what it’s trying to become.
Nearly 100 Million Americans Face Dangerous Heat as Late-Summer Heat Wave Expands
Nearly 100 million Americans are under heat advisories as a sprawling late-summer heat wave pushes dangerous temperatures across the central and southern Plains, lower Mississippi Valley and parts of the Southeast. The National Weather Service says the extreme conditions are expected to persist into next week, with more than a dozen states facing potentially hazardous heat. Temperatures are reaching the triple digits in some areas, while high humidity is making conditions feel substantially hotter. Parts of Kansas and Missouri could experience heat index values as high as 115 degrees, and some communities may see overnight temperatures remain near or above 80 degrees, limiting the body’s opportunity to recover from daytime heat. The timing is creating additional challenges as schools reopen across the country and students return to outdoor sports and activities. Some districts have restricted practices and other outdoor events, while communities in affected areas are opening cooling centers and encouraging residents to stay hydrated and limit strenuous activity during the hottest parts of the day. Prolonged heat can be especially dangerous for older adults, young children, outdoor workers and people without reliable access to air conditioning. Heat-related illness can develop quickly, particularly when high humidity makes it more difficult for the body to cool itself through sweating. Forecasters are urging residents in affected areas to drink plenty of fluids, avoid unnecessary outdoor exertion and check on vulnerable family members and neighbors. The heat is not expected to disappear with the weekend. National Weather Service forecasts indicate dangerous conditions will continue across portions of the central and southern Plains and Southeast into next week, with the possibility of record-tying or record-breaking temperatures in parts of the South.
Trump Takes $400 Million White House Ballroom Fight to Supreme Court
President Trump’s administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to allow construction of his $400 million White House ballroom to continue, escalating a legal battle over whether a president can undertake a major transformation of the White House complex without approval from Congress. A divided federal appeals court ruled last week that the administration must halt the project because Congress never authorized it. The 90,000-square-foot ballroom is being built on the site of the demolished East Wing and is already about 65% complete. The appeals court delayed its order for two weeks to give the administration time to seek Supreme Court intervention, with the construction halt scheduled to take effect August 21 unless the justices step in. The dispute reaches beyond the ballroom itself. In its 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit concluded that the president does not have unilateral authority to fundamentally reshape the White House. The lawsuit was brought by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which argues the administration began the massive project without obtaining the congressional authorization required for changes to federal property. The Trump administration argues that stopping construction would create national-security risks. Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the Supreme Court that leaving the East Wing site unfinished would threaten security, while Trump has described the larger project as a “military center.” Administration officials say the complex includes security infrastructure intended to better protect the president and other White House officials. The Readovia Lens The Supreme Court is now being asked to decide whether construction can continue while the administration pursues its appeal, rather than issuing a final ruling on the legality of the ballroom itself. But the dispute could ultimately force the justices to confront a much larger question about presidential power: how far a president can go in altering one of the country’s most important federal properties without first receiving authorization from Congress.
11 Charged in Alleged Scheme Behind More Than 1,000 Fraudulent Marriages
Federal prosecutors have charged 11 people in an alleged nationwide immigration fraud operation that arranged more than 1,000 sham marriages over at least a decade, allowing foreign nationals to seek legal permanent residency in the United States. The Justice Department says the operation was centered in New York but extended across several states. Foreign nationals, primarily from China, allegedly paid facilitators as much as $100,000 to be paired with U.S. citizens willing to enter fraudulent marriages. Participating Americans could receive as much as $30,000, according to prosecutors. The alleged operation went far beyond arranging introductions. Prosecutors say participants staged wedding ceremonies and photographs, opened joint bank and other accounts, and prepared documents intended to make the marriages appear legitimate. Participants were also allegedly coached on how to answer questions from immigration officials and conceal the true nature of their relationships. Some of the marriages allegedly involved active-duty U.S. service members, and the broader network stretched into states including Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida. Prosecutors estimate that the operation collected tens of millions of dollars from foreign nationals seeking lawful permanent resident status. The defendants face federal conspiracy charges related to marriage and immigration fraud and allegedly encouraging the unlawful residence of immigrants in the United States. Attorney General Todd Blanche described the case as one of the largest marriage-fraud prosecutions in U.S. history. The charges are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
U.S. Military Set to Leave Iraq by September 30, Ending a Two-Decade Presence
The United States is on track to withdraw its remaining military forces from Iraq by September 30, bringing to a close a U.S. military presence that began with the 2003 invasion and evolved through more than two decades of war, counterterrorism operations, and security assistance. U.S. and Iraqi officials have confirmed that the withdrawal remains on schedule. Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi reaffirmed the September 30 deadline this week following talks with U.S. Central Command chief Adm. Brad Cooper, calling the date final for ending the U.S.-led coalition’s military mission in Iraq. The departure represents the final stage of a drawdown that has been underway for years. American combat forces formally left Iraq in 2011, but U.S. troops returned in 2014 after the rise of ISIS. In recent years, the American mission has focused largely on advising and assisting Iraqi security forces and supporting operations against the militant group. Most U.S. forces have already departed, with the remaining presence concentrated primarily in Iraq’s northern Kurdish region. The withdrawal comes at a particularly volatile moment in the Middle East. U.S. facilities and forces in Iraq have repeatedly faced threats from Iran-backed armed groups, and regional tensions have intensified during the conflict involving the United States, Israel and Iran. Iraq is also confronting the politically difficult task of bringing armed groups operating outside direct government control under state authority. The Readovia Lens For Washington and Baghdad, September 30 will mark more than another troop reduction. It will close one of the longest chapters in modern U.S. military history while shifting the relationship between the two countries toward bilateral security cooperation without a permanent American military presence in Iraq.
The “Youth” Protein Activated by Exercise May Help Protect Muscle and Bone
Researchers studying CLCF1 found an association between lower levels of the protein and aging. Human experiments also showed increases in CLCF1 following resistance training, providing evidence that exercise can influence this signaling pathway. The strongest evidence for CLCF1’s effects on muscle and bone, however, comes from animal research. In aged mice, researchers found that administering CLCF1 improved measures of physical performance and bone health. Blocking CLCF1 also reduced some of the benefits associated with exercise, suggesting that the protein may be one of the biological mechanisms through which physical activity supports the aging body. Those findings are promising, but they don’t yet establish CLCF1 as an anti-aging treatment in humans. Larger human studies will be needed to determine exactly how important the protein is and whether it could eventually have therapeutic applications. The Bigger Picture The research adds to a growing understanding that skeletal muscle does far more than help us move. Active muscle releases signaling molecules — often called myokines — that can communicate with other tissues throughout the body. That makes resistance training particularly interesting as scientists study healthy aging. Maintaining muscle strength becomes increasingly important later in life, while weight-bearing activity can also help support bone health and physical independence. CLCF1 may eventually provide scientists with another piece of the puzzle explaining why those benefits occur. Supporting CLCF1 Through Exercise For now, there is no special “CLCF1 workout,” and researchers have not established an exercise prescription specifically designed to maximize the protein. The human findings do, however, strengthen the case for resistance training as part of a healthy-aging routine. Prioritize resistance training. Weight training, resistance bands and appropriately performed body-weight exercises can help preserve strength and muscle as we age. Be consistent. Long-term exercise habits matter more for overall health than occasional intense workouts. Include weight-bearing movement. Activities that safely place demands on the muscles and bones can help maintain physical function. Progress gradually. Increasing resistance or difficulty over time can help the body continue adapting. Allow time for recovery. Adequate nutrition, protein and rest support muscle repair and adaptation following exercise. The Takeaway CLCF1 is an intriguing new piece of the healthy-aging puzzle. Early research suggests that the protein responds to resistance exercise and may be involved in protecting muscle and bone, but scientists are still determining exactly how significant that role is in humans. What doesn’t require waiting for the next study is the broader lesson. Resistance training is already supported by extensive evidence as an important tool for preserving strength, mobility and physical function with age. The discovery of CLCF1 may eventually help explain some of the biology behind those benefits — another reminder that when muscles work, they may be doing considerably more for the body than we can see.