The Trillionaire Problem

March 31, 2026

I'm a fan of the Pivot podcast with Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway. In today's episode from 17:42 to 27:21 Kara and Scott discuss a mind-boggling possibility: Elon Musk is on track to potentially become the world's first trillionaire. He owns roughly 42% of SpaceX, which is targeting a $1.75 trillion valuation, and Scott estimates a 71% chance of this happening within the year. This is worth considering because of what it represents in practice.

Scott's point that resonated with me is that Starlink already controls over two-thirds of all active satellites in orbit, with plans to scale to 42,000. This isn't just a successful business; it's one private company becoming the de facto communications backbone for the planet. Governments and militaries already depend on it, and because SpaceX's launch costs are a fraction of its competitors', no one is likely to catch up soon.

Kara focused on the political implications. In a close election, someone with this level of capital could deploy a relatively small amount of their net worth and influence the outcome. Current campaign finance regulations aren't designed for this scale of wealth.

What I find unsettling is the immense wealth itself and what it enables. The infrastructure Musk controls—satellites, broadband, launch capacity—is the kind of thing traditionally built and maintained by nation-states. The fact that one unelected person wields this much power, and can use it to influence elections or determine which governments receive connectivity during a conflict, is disconcerting.

It's worth a listen.